SF 49ers: Position report-card grades halfway through 2020

SF 49ers Offensive Line

With all the problems San Francisco’s defense faced, both during the offseason and into the regular season, the hope was for Kyle Shanahan’s offense to pick up the slack.

So far, that hasn’t been the case.

A primary culprit is a unit that has remained mostly healthy over the course of 2020. True, the SF 49ers have been down their starting center, Weston Richburg, who is still on the mend from a 2019 knee injury. Backup center Ben Garland has been shelved with a calf injury, too, forcing Shanahan to mix and match with a patchwork group of centers like Hroniss Grasu and starting right guard Daniel Brunskill.

As for the rest of the positions? Well, the presumed starters — Trent Williams, Laken Tomlinson, Brunskill and Mike McGlinchey — have mostly been mainstays.

The problem, though, is the desired protection and blocking efforts simply haven’t been there.

Through nine weeks, Football Outsiders ranks the Niners O-line 16th in run blocking and 20th in pass protection, which is a considerable downgrade from the No. 8 and No. 15 respective rankings this unit enjoyed a season ago.

Plus, the 23 sacks allowed already this season is well on pace to eclipse the net 36 given up in 2019.

Putting it bluntly, the O-line’s performance this year has been nothing short of disappointing.