Offensive Guard Laken Tomlinson
A week after offensive guard Zane Beadles was anything but effective against the Panthers, head coach Kyle Shanahan elected to give the recently acquired guard Laken Tomlinson a start in Beadles’ place.
The move worked.
Tomlinson finished the day with a 50.1 overall game grade, according to Pro Football Focus — not great, but certainly a notable improvement over Beadles’ 23.1 mark the previous week.
More importantly, Tomlinson was much more effective than his predecessor setting up running plays towards the left side:
Nice blocking by new LG Laken Tomlinson on those last two runs by Hyde, the second a 61-yard gain.
— Matt Barrows (@mattbarrows) September 17, 2017
Overall, San Francisco’s offensive line played much better in Week 2 against a stout Seahawks front seven. Hopefully that continues.
And barring injury or any unforeseen circumstances, there doesn’t appear to be any reason to remove Tomlinson from the starting lineup.