5 Players the 49ers Should Still Target in Free Agency
By Jerod Brown
Geoff Schwartz-Offensive Guard
The 49ers need offensive line help. Aside from left tackle Joe Staley and left guard Alex Boone, who recently signed with the Minnesota Vikings as a free agent, the 49ers began 2015 with an offensive line that looked mediocre at best.
Center Marcus Martin began the year as the leader of the line before former-starter Daniel Kilgore returned from injury. At the time, Martin was graded as one of the worst centers in the league. To Martin’s right were guard Jordan Devey and tackle Erik Pears, both of which were near the bottom of the league as well.
For reference, Pro Football Focus grades each play from every game to determine a single score that encapsulates the performance of any given player. Each player is given a score between -2 and 2 to rate their play every snap. Those numbers don’t tell the whole story–many teams ask their players to do different things–but the method can be useful in comparing players across the league.
Below are the scores for Martin, Devey and Pears (subscription required)
Martin-30.1
Devey-37.5
Pears-37.5
Those numbers put each of those players on the very-low end of the spectrum for guards and tackles throughout the leagues. Compare those numbers to Andrew Tiller, who only started seven games at guard after replacing Devey.
Tiller-80.7
Tiller’s score puts him as a high-end starter that could become Pro-Bowl Caliber next season. Compared to the other men, Tiller looks like a Hall-of-Fame player.
The 49ers need to upgrade the line. The return of tackle Anthony Davis may provide a spark and, if not Davis, the team has tackle Trent Brown developing as well. The primary position needing improvement in 2016 is guard. Regardless of who plays quarterback, the offensive line needs to improve moving forward.
Fortunately, offensive guard Geoff Schwartz is still a free agent and can be an immediate upgrade, even better than Tiller was in his time last year.
Schwartz is coming off a rough patch in his career that saw him rehabbing from injuries as often as he was on the field. When healthy, Schwartz is one of the top guards in the league. He is still young–under 30 years old–and played at Oregon in Chip Kelly’s first year as offensive coordinator in 2007.
Bleacher Report’s NFL 1000 Series ranked Schwartz at eighth among right guards in the league. Matt Miller‘s analysis of Schwartz make him an obvious target for the 49ers:
"Before being placed on season-ending injured reserve for the second time in as many years, Schwartz was one of the best run-blocking guards in the NFL (B/R research revealed he led the Giants line in pancake blocks through 12 weeks of the season). In 2015, Schwartz excelled at moving the point of attack, whether it be movement on one-on-one base blocks in the downhill run game or reach-blocking to hook or keep defenders flat in zone. In addition, he always seemed to be in on massive double-team and combo blocks."
Schwartz won’t be as expensive as he would typically be due to his injuries. While Schwartz has missed time, the injuries have been freak accidents on-field where he is rolled up in awkward positions. The injuries might give teams pause but Schwartz is hardly the type of player to be labeled an ongoing injury concern.
The 49ers would be wise to target Schwartz as the highest-priority free agent to bring to the team for 2016.
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