Niners Nation
San Francisco 49ers fans have long wondered why the team doesn’t invest more in its offensive line. Trent Williams has taken most of the allotted funds with his $82 million contract.
Outside of Williams, the 49ers are rotating their left guards Spencer Burford and Ben Bartch, two free agents this offseason making under a combined $5 million. Center, and public enemy No. 1 Jake Brendel, is under contract through 2026. His base salary in 2025 is $3.15 million. Dominick Puni was drafted in the third round in 2024. He’s on a rookie contract. Right tackle Colton McKivitz earned an extension, but his cap number in 2025 is $4.4 million. The 49ers are big spenders, just not at the offensive line.
Despite using high-end resources, save Williams, along the offensive line, this is a unit that has been surprisingly effective this season. The 49ers are sixth in adjusted sack rate this season. On the ground, they are 15th in adjusted line yards and 12th in “power success,” which measures how efficient you are in short-yardage running situations. So, a hair above average in both.
When Christian McCaffrey is your running back, and you have invested at the skill position in the way the Niners have offensively, a hair above average should be more than enough for your offense to function at a level that would make a play-caller like Kyle Shanahan happy.
As we all know, injuries have crippled the 49ers on both sides of the ball. One injury that took a toll on the offense during the early part of the season was Dominick Puni. The second-year pro, who has started every game for the 49ers this season, wasn’t himself until about mid-October.
Puni suffered a PCL injury in August, causing him to miss a few weeks. As we found out with Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua in 2024 and Ricky Pearsall this season, that’s an injury that can linger. Nacua and Pearsall both missed six games.
Despite Puni trying to power through his injury, it is evident that he couldn’t move as well as he did as a rookie. Football is a game of balance. For offensive linemen, you can get embarrassed if you’re feet aren’t on the ground. You could tell early in the season that Puni was a bit tentative when it came to fully putting pressure on his injured right knee.
Here are a couple of examples from Week 3’s matchup against the Arizona Cardinals.
Puni climbs to the second level to block the linebacker. Despite the run going to the offense’s right, Puni leads with his left leg. Most offensive line coaches will tell you to step through the crotch of the defender you’re trying to block with the playside leg, which is Puni’s injured knee, in this instance. He doesn’t, and that leads to the linebacker later in the game.
The second step is the most important one for an offensive lineman. Later in the game, Puni...
