The San Francisco 49ers offensive line doesn’t look to be a team strength this season. With that in mind, here are five moves the team could make to help fix this unit in 2018.
The San Francisco 49ers enter 2017 with relatively the same offensive line they carried into last season.
And a quick-take look from the Sacramento Bee’s Matt Barrows back in March suggested the starting cast could be almost identical to what the Niners rolled out in Week 1 back in 2016.
This group ranked 30th in pass protection last year and dead last in run support, according to Football Outsiders. It’s far from a perfect group, and the lack of serious targets in the 2017 NFL Draft prevented general manager John Lynch from bringing in worthwhile talent.
Some moves, like trading for center Jeremy Zuttah, might help for now. But it’s likely Lynch tabled this need for next season at the earliest.
But if we could look ahead, what would some moves be to help fix this unit?
There are a number of problems to consider. First, left tackle Joe Staley will be 33 years old this August. He’s aging, as is Zuttah (31 years old). Offensive guards Zane Beadles and Joshua Garnett underperformed last year, and right tackle Trent Brown isn’t exactly a fit in head coach Kyle Shanahan’s outside-zone scheme.
Overhauling the O-line won’t happen in one offseason. Yet there are some moves the Niners could make, both in free agency and the NFL Draft, when 2018 rolls around.
Here are five of them.
No. 5: Sign Titans Offensive Guard Josh Kline
Zane Beadles wound up being San Francisco’s worst-graded starter along the offensive line last year, per Pro Football Focus, boasting a woeful 40.2 overall grade on the season.
San Francisco 49ers
Then-rookie guard Joshua Garnett wasn’t much better (42.4), but the 49ers will likely be a bit more patient with their first-round investment from the 2016 NFL Draft. Still, it’s likely the Niners will look for some serious upgrades at the interior positions in 2018.
One name among the list of targets should be current Tennessee Titans right guard Josh Kline.
Kline hits the final season of a two-year, $3.5 million contract. And PFF handed him an 80.0 overall grade — good for 26th among qualifiers in 2016 — which was well balanced in both pass protection and run support.
The good news is guards make notably less money on the free-agent market than tackles. He’d probably be around the range of $2 million per year, which is very doable for a Niners team loaded with cap space.
At 27 years old, the undrafted Kline is just hitting the prime of his career. He’d immediately be a plug-and-play guard and upgrade over Beadles and, very likely, Garnett as well.
No. 4: Trade for Chiefs Tackle Mitchell Schwartz
This will take a bit of work. But if we use the same idea that landed the Niners center Jeremy Zuttah from the Baltimore Ravens (trading for a player in line to be a cap casualty), this kind of move makes sense.
Kansas City Chiefs right tackle Mitchell Schwartz finished last season with a 80.7 overall grade, per Pro Football Focus, and a noteworthy 73.6 run-blocking grade. This would give the Niners a solid option over incumbent right tackle, Trent Brown, who isn’t much of a run blocker at all — 39.0 run-blocking PFF grade in 2016.
The 28-year-old Schwartz signed a huge five-year, $33 million contract with Kansas City in 2015. And while he has been a major contributor for the Chiefs offensive line, Kansas City is in cap hell right now.
According to Over the Cap, the Chiefs are in the red and $1,289,566 over the cap this season.
With younger players on Kansas City’s roster soon to hit the open market after 2017 and 2018 — like linebacker Dee Ford and cornerback Marcus Peters — the Chiefs need to free up some cap space.
A mid-round pick might be a bit too low, and such a move wouldn’t be quite as simple as the Zuttah deal.
But if Schwartz doesn’t wind up being the target, look for San Francisco to pursue a similar approach with another likely cap casualty elsewhere.
An ideal move would also land a long-term replacement for left tackle Joe Staley.
No. 3: Select Offensive Tackle Orlando Brown, Oklahoma, in the NFL Draft
The 49ers are going to need at least two tackles over the next few seasons to make serious upgrades. Remember, Joe Staley is getting older. And Trent Brown isn’t a fit here.
Even if the Niners managed to land a player like Mitchell Schwartz, another young player would do wonders for San Francisco’s long-term prognosis.
Enter offensive tackle Orlando Brown out of Oklahoma.
The Niners are likely to have a top-five pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, and it’s widely viewed the team will take a quarterback in Round 1.
But subsequent picks should be used in other offensive areas, the O-line as such an example.
The 6-foot-8, 342-pound Brown is much better in run support than Trent Brown, and you can see examples of this below:
Orlando Brown is likely going to wind up being a mid-round prospect, depending on how things go this year at Oklahoma. But if things go well and he’s sitting on the board in Round 3, that’s a move San Francisco should consider.
No. 2: Target Ohio State Guard Billy Price in the NFL Draft
If Orlando Brown isn’t the ideal target, Ohio State offensive guard Billy Price should be.
Price — a 6-foot-4, 315-pound talent — was one of the major reasons now-Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott was so successful leading up to his own drafting in 2016.
Just watch some of Price’s clips from 2015 below:
Our friend Jon Dove over at With the First Pick sings Price’s praises, although he points out the lack of pure athleticism and arm length could cause his stock to fall in 2018.
This could mean Price winds up slipping into Rounds 2 through 4, which isn’t a bad spot should the Niners be looking to make more O-line upgrades here.
Price could be the complementary piece to replace a veteran like Zane Beadles or possibly act as a serious developmental project in a backup role.
Either way, he’d be a nice addition for the interior of San Francisco’s line.
No. 1: Go All Out for Patriots Offensive Tackle Nate Solder
The 49ers are going to have to overpay for a talented offensive lineman on the free-agent market, but the good news is they’re equipped to do so.
San Francisco has money, though, so overspending shouldn’t be too big an issue.
New England Patriots offensive tackle could easily wind up being the most sought-after O-line free agent this offseason. He’s wrapping up the final season of a $20.06 two-year extension in New England this year and will hit the market in 2018 just before his 30th birthday.
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The Patriots aren’t known for overspending on free agents set to hit the market, and it seems more likely they’d be looking to find someone younger and cheaper.
Yet the Niners can afford to be aggressive, pulling in Solder on a deal worth around $11 million per year.
This would, of course, create something of a logjam at left tackle — the position both Solder and Joe Staley would play.
But if the loser of this competition would be willing to bump out to right tackle, that’s a competition the Niners would like to have.
OK, so these are just a few options San Francisco might pursue in 2018. And all of them aren’t going to happen. Heck, none of them might.
Next: Predicting 49ers' strengths, weaknesses & X-factors in 2017
However, just one of these moves would provide a very serious upgrade to San Francisco offensive line needing all the help it can get between now and 2018.