San Francisco 49ers: 5 Players to Watch For in Training Camp

Trenton Brown

Right tackle was a real sore point of the 49ers offensive line in 2015. Starting right tackle Erik Pears was a complete disaster. Per Pro Football Focus (subscription required) Pears ranked 73rd out of 81 qualified tackles/guards with a grade of pus-37.5 (from a zero to 100 scale).

Pathetic.

In comparison, when Brown was given an opportunity late in the season (admittedly much less sample size) he ranked at a plus-66.6 (from the same scale). Brown excelled at pass blocking (plus-73.3) whereas his run blocking was poor at a plus-36.6.

The right tackle battle is wide open between him, Pears, and perhaps rookies in Fahn Cooper and John Theus (though it would be a total shock to see either of the rookies starting Week 1).

Brown didn’t help his cause by showing up at the beginning of the offseason program out of shape. He should have known with Kelly’s teams, the O-line needs to be athletic and have stamina to perform the quick plays consistently.

The 49ers are determined to be a running football team in 2016. Can Brown improve his run blocking? A plus-36 rating is not going to cut it. Has he spent the last few weeks of the off-time working on his conditioning and run blocking technique?

The talent is there with him, but does he want a NFL career badly enough? From what he has shown us so far in 2016, it hasn’t looked promising.

The offense will start and fail from up front. It cannot afford to have a weak link. Can Brown rise to the challenge? Heaven forbid if we are stuck with Pears at right tackle again in Week 1. The Rams will have Robert Quinn and Aaron Donald just bull-rush Pears into oblivion and the QB will be going down like London in the “London is Falling” movie.

Heck, this thought is giving me shudders now.

Next: Joshua Garnett