49ers roster 2021: Bubble watch ahead of preseason Week 1
By Peter Panacy
49ers Bubble Watch: Offensive Line
Lock: Alex Mack, Aaron Banks, Daniel Brunskill, Laken Tomlinson, Mike McGlinchey, Trent Williams
Strong Bubble: Jake Brendel, Colton McKivitz, Jaylon Moore
Weak Bubble: Tom Compton, Senio Kelemete, Dakoda Shepley, Shon Coleman
Long Shot: Alfredo Gutierrez, Corbin Kaufusi
San Francisco’s first-string offensive line looks good enough and should be vastly improved, thanks to the offseason addition of center Alex Mack, which moves the versatile Daniel Brunskill over to right guard.
Whether or not the second-round rookie, Aaron Banks, takes over at guard for Brunskill will be a point to watch this preseason and potentially into the regular season, too, although Banks has primarily been working with the second-team unit during training camp.
Speaking of the second-stringers, this particular unit has been awfully weak and could be a major liability if the 49ers suffer a lot of injury attrition up front.
Brunskill is likely tabbed as the reserve center, but Jake Brendel is the only other true center behind Mack on the roster. Reserve linemen like Colton McKivitz and another rookie, Jaylon Moore, still have a good deal of work to do but probably stand a better shot of making the 53-man roster than Tom Compton or Shon Coleman, the latter having missed the last two seasons because of injury and a 2020 COVID-19 opt-out.
It might be wise for the Niners to peruse pre-Week 1 roster cuts to see if there’s a serviceable lineman to reinforce the depth chart because it’s looking weak right now.