No. 4: Offensive Line Pass Protection
The 49ers changed out a sizable chunk of their offensive line during the offseason, headlined by the first-round NFL Draft selection of Notre Dame tackle Mike McGlinchey. In turn, the Niners moved right tackle Trent Brown to the New England Patriots by the way of a trade.
One of the major reasons why was because Kyle Shanahan wanted to improve his offense’s running abilities — an area in which Brown struggled.
McGlinchey was one of college football’s best run blockers last year. But there are question marks about his pass-protecting abilities. In a sense, San Francisco traded one known issue for another potential one.
A year ago, Football Outsiders ranked the 49ers O-line 18th in pass protection. And while Jimmy Garoppolo’s presence helped take a lot of pressure off the unit as a whole, there’s a strong chance this unit will have some difficulty handling the elite-level pass-rushers they’ll face over the course of 2018.
Not just on McGlinchey’s side either.
Free-agent guard Jonathan Cooper posted a pass-blocking grade of just 52.0 last year, while fellow guard Joshua Garnett‘s pass blocking at Stanford was never a strength. And Laken Tomlinson, whom the 49ers inked to a three-year extension recently, allowed four sacks and 39 quarterback pressures in 2017 despite some improvement down the stretch.