49ers’ 2019 53-man roster predictions before training camp
By Peter Panacy
Offensive Line (8)
Left Tackle: Joe Staley
Left Guard: Laken Tomlinson
Center: Weston Richburg, Ben Garland
Right Guard: Mike Person, Ross Reynolds
Right Tackle: Mike McGlinchey, Shon Coleman
The 49ers’ starting five up front along their offensive line are pretty much set, barring training camp injuries.
After that, though, things get interesting.
Center Weston Richburg is still recovering from offseason knee surgery, and the primary beneficiary of that was backup offensive lineman Ben Garland, who spent some time with Kyle Shanahan with the Atlanta Falcons back in 2016. Garland received first-team reps at center during OTAs, so look for him to be the primary reserve.
Meanwhile, undrafted free-agent lineman Ross Reynolds ends up pushing out the Niners’ former first-round pick, Joshua Garnett, who has long since fallen out of favor with Shanahan’s regime.
Same goes for Erik Magnuson, who was relegated to the weekly inactive list for much of the latter half of 2018.
San Francisco selected former Vanderbilt offensive tackle Justin Skule to compete for a swing tackle role with the team’s 2018 pickup, Shon Coleman. Coleman has an edge here, given his year of experience in the system, yet this group of backups could end up being pretty fluid throughout training camp.