Niner Noise
FanSided

San Francisco 49ers: The all-bad team

By Peter Panacy

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49ers right tackle Kwame Harris sits dejected on the bench during the final minutes as the Arizona Cardinals defeated the San Francisco 49ers by a score of 17 to 10 at Monster Park, San Francisco, California, December 4, 2005. (Photo by Robert B. Stanton/NFLPhotoLibrary)
49ers right tackle Kwame Harris sits dejected on the bench during the final minutes as the Arizona Cardinals defeated the San Francisco 49ers by a score of 17 to 10 at Monster Park, San Francisco, California, December 4, 2005. (Photo by Robert B. Stanton/NFLPhotoLibrary) /

Offensive Line

Center: Marcus Martin (2014-2016)

Guards: Brandon Thomas (2014-2015), Chilo Rachal (2008-2011)

Offensive Tackles: Jonas Jennings (2005-2008), Kwame Harris (2003-2007)

Third-year center Marcus Martin still has a chance to turn his 49ers career around. But it’s safe to say his leash will be short.

Martin, a third-round pick of the 49ers from 2014, ended up seeing considerable playing time following an injury and elongated recovery to starting center Daniel Kilgore. In 2015, Martin was ranked by Pro Football Focus as the third-worst qualifying center with a minus-42.1 overall grade.

But the 49ers didn’t exactly have too many options, so Martin kept being a liability during his starting tenure.

Offensive guard Brandon Thomas is in a similar situation as is Martin — the book isn’t quite finished on him yet. Thomas, another third rounder from 2014, was highly touted coming out of college despite an injury that relegated to him being redshirted his rookie season.

Yet Thomas couldn’t win out a starting role on the offensive line, which paved the way for guard Jordan Devey to get the start in 2015.

Yes, Devey could be on this list as well. But did anyone really have any lofty expectations out of him when San Francisco made the trade to acquire him prior to the season? This looks like more of a mark against Thomas than anything else.

Offensive tackle Chilo Rachal is about equally as depressing. The second-round pick of the 49ers from 2008 struggled in pass protection for an O-line desperately trying to keep former quarterback Alex Smith upright.

Steve Busichio of Niners Nation summed up Rachal’s isses and the frustration felt by many San Francisco fans by writing, “Chilo Rachal? In short, he couldn’t block a friend on Facebook if he wanted to.”

Pretty much.

Tackles Jonas Jennings and Kwame Harris were really bad too. For Jennings, injuries were the primary culprit. He appeared in just 23 games over four seasons with the Niners.

But Harris could be regarded as the worst 49ers player of all time if one wanted to go there.

The Niners’ first-round selection of the 2003 draft went bust quickly. According to STATS, Inc. (h/t USA Today), Harris allowed 8.5 sacks in 2006 with four holding penalties and one false start. The season before, Harris allowed 9.5 sacks and committed 15 penalties, seven of them false starts.

And for your humorous list of things that could block better than Harris, just click here.

Backups: David Baas, Guard/Center (2005-2010), Tim Hanshaw, Guard (1996-1998), Ron Singleton, Tackle (1977-1980)

O-lineman David Baas never lived up to being a high second-round pick. He struggled to earn a starting job and never turned into the player for which the 49ers hoped. Fellow linemen Tim Hanshaw and Ron Singleton also never developed into worthwhile players either and had short stints at the NFL level.

Next: Tight End