4 first-year 49ers who could steal starting jobs in 2021
By Peter Panacy
49ers Rookie No. 3: OG Aaron Banks
Unlike Trey Sermon, second-round rookie offensive guard Aaron Banks didn’t get a lot of work in with the first-team unit during OTAs.
No, the primary right guard spot went to the veteran, Daniel Brunskill, who might be hard to unseat as a starter right away.
Yet there are a couple of scenarios where Banks, a power lineman with excellent pass-protection pedigree, emerges as a plug-and-play starter right out of the gate.
It’s possible the 49ers prefer to keep Brunskill as a high-quality uber-versatile backup capable of supporting all five spots along the offensive line, and this would likely be the case anyway if Banks winds up beating out Brunskill during training camp.
The other possibility is the Niners elect to move on from left guard Laken Tomlinson, who despite his reliability, carries zero in guaranteed money in 2021 and could be pegged as one of those surprise roster cuts ahead of the regular season. Should San Francisco feel the tandem of Brunskill and Banks offer the best possible solution at the two guard spots, Tomlinson feasibly becomes expendable, and the 49ers wouldn’t hesitate to save some cap space there.
Either way, the Niners didn’t use a second-round pick on Banks to let him marinate on the bench for the next year or two. Expect him to start sooner than later.