Daniel Brunskill’s role with 49ers will be fun to watch in 2020

The San Francisco 49ers identified a key player in former AAF lineman Daniel Brunskill, and he is a player to watch this offseason as he competes for a key role.

The San Francisco 49ers heavily scouted the now-defunct Alliance of American Football, and they ended up coming away with two notable players in 2019: defensive lineman Damontre Moore and offensive lineman Daniel Brunskill.

Brunskill, a 2017 undrafted free agent who initially signed with the Atlanta Falcons, found his way to the Niners after his brief AAF stint with the San Diego Fleet. By most accounts, it probably would have been reasonable to assume the 6-foot-5, 300-pound lineman was merely a training camp body. Yet he managed to work his way onto the 53-man roster and then some.

Key injuries to starting tackles Joe Staley and Mike McGlinchey during the regular season opened up the door for Brunskill to assume a larger role.

Brunskill thrived in those situations, eventually starting seven games over the course of the year.

And his production was more than adequate, too. According to Pro Football Focus, Brunskill received a 74.5 overall grade — second only to Staley (81.3) along the offensive line — and surrendered just two sacks and seven pressures on 233 pass-blocking snaps.

Not bad at all for the 26 year old.

Heading into 2020, Brunskill now faces a provocative future. An exclusive-rights free agent, Brunskill can essentially only negotiate with the 49ers this offseason, and it seems highly likely the Niners would tender him for another year.

After all, Brunskill flashed the versatility to back up both tackle spots, and he also doubled as a fill-in guard late in the year when starting right guard Mike Person was dealing with a neck injury.

But Brunskill’s future could potentially go beyond merely being a backup.

Last February, NBC Sports Bay Area’s Matt Maiocco suggested Brunskill could compete right away with Person for the starting right guard spot. Considering Person has zero left in guarantees on his current contract, and cutting him could save $2.5 million, Brunskill winning this job outright could help San Francisco a lot, financially.

At the same time, Staley will turn 36 years old before the start of the regular season. There has been no indication Staley will retire this offseason, yet the idea Brunskill could feasibly end up being a long-term replacement for the veteran has to make the Niners feel a lot better about their contingency plans along the O-line.

Whatever happens, it’s pretty obvious the 49ers identified and deployed an otherwise unheralded player into a key role last season.

And that role could increase significantly in 2020.