49ers HC Kyle Shanahan spoke about the offensive line and the depth chart at the owner’s meetings on Tuesday
The San Francisco 49ers‘ depth chart along the offensive line has a hole at left guard. Last season, Spencer Burford was Wally Pipp’d by Dominick Puni at right guard. Burford lost his spot after suffering an injury early on in the preseason and never regained his spot.
Burford wound up playing Week 1 against the New York Jets, but that was at left guard once Aaron Banks went down with an injury. Burford could be a valuable depth piece for the Niners moving forward.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan said Burford is capable of playing every position and where he’ll suit up in 2025 will be determined “where he can get the most comfortable at.” Could Burford be a sneaky option at right tackle in camp? Here’s Shanahan’s full answer:
“As he showed us, especially his rookie year, he has starting ability at guard. He has that at tackle, too. It’s really where he’s going to balance out the most and come in and compete, and possibly earn a starting spot. But also to be a swing tackle, or anything, he’s got that type of ability.”
One player who won’t be replaced in the upcoming NFL Draft is Jake Brendel, despite many fans’ disapproval. Shanahan spoke highly about Brendel and shared why he believes Brendel played at a high level in 2024:
“I thought Jake played well. When you study centers throughout the league, and things like that, I think Jake’s up there. When it comes to his pass protection, a lot of these guys get mismatched against head-up noses and some of the defensive tackles they have to go against.
I think Jake does as good in pass protection as anyone in this league. He’s always been a very good run player for us, too.”
Sports Info Solutions tracks stats such as blown block rate, points earned above replacement, and wins above replacement for every position. On all plays, Brendel had the third-lowest blown block percentage among all centers last season. He was also tied for third in points earned and wins above replacement.
That’s tough to digest when you only remember the 1-2 clips that circulate on social media after a game. But when you watch Brendel over the course of 60-65 plays, he was far from a liability along the offensive line, and the numbers back that assessment up.
If you filter it to pass plays only, Brendel is tied for eighth among 25 centers to play at least 300 snaps. If you boil it down to what the 49ers run — zone, duo, pass pro, Brendel has the second-highest WAR among centers and is sixth in points earned above the average center.
Again, when you remove the emotion and let the information steer you in the correct direction, the 49ers, at worst, have a top 8-ish center under contract for $3.15 million in 2025. For what it’s worth, Chiefs center Creed Humphrey is the No. 1 center in all of these metrics, which was enough to validate the list for me.
Shanahan was asked a follow-up question on whether the 49ers would bring in competition for Brendel. Here’s what he said:
“I didn’t really look at it going in like Jake’s competing. I think Jake’s played at a pretty high level. I think our whole o-line has. It’s gonna be hard losing [Aaron] Banks. It’s gonna be hard losing Jaylon Moore, who has been a great swing tackle and got to play a lot with Trent [Williams] being down half of last year. So those are the things that we really need to replace.”
Shanahan said Matt Hennessy was a player the 49ers liked at center, but he’ll likely compete with Nick Zakelj and Ben Bartch at left guard. But the NFL Draft is where the 49ers will likely add depth at tackle and more competition at left guard. Shanahan believes there will be more competition than ever this summer on the roster, but most of that will take place on defense.