Aaron Banks is the one player every 49ers fan should be watching at OTAs

49ers guard Aaron Banks did not factor in 2021 despite being a second-round pick. This year, he’ll get the first crack to replace Laken Tomlinson and repay the faith the team has in him.

With San Francisco 49ers’ 2022 OTAs well and truly underway, attention has turned back on the players as they begin to get ready for the upcoming season.

While we won’t get a proper look until training camp at the entire roster, OTAs can be helpful in figuring out the status quo of certain things.

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One of those things was the state of play at left guard, where former starter Laken Tomlinson was last season before signing with the New York Jets. OTAs may not be good for much, but we do at least know that Aaron Banks will have the first chance to take Tomlinson’s spot.

Banks was a bit of a disappointment in his rookie year, only playing at guard in garbage time against the Jacksonville Jaguars as a mixture of injuries and poor conditioning took its toll. As a result, fans could be forgiven for wondering if Banks might be a bust already.

Perhaps such fears were a little premature, given Banks actually did make progress in his rookie season and could have featured as a starter if the 49ers hadn’t gotten rolling on a winning streak.

If the early signs are anything to go by, however, Banks has made a promising start to the preseason. A season in the 49ers’ strength and conditioning program means a lot more of his 330-pound frame is now muscle rather than fat.

Banks is under a lot of pressure this season. The 49ers could afford to have him essentially redshirt his rookie season with Tomlinson and Daniel Brunskill manning the guard positions. But with the former now playing for the Jets and the latter potentially moving to center with Alex Mack retiring, the time has come for young Banks to step up and alleviate some of the pressure the team is facing with the interior offensive line.

The Niners aren’t practicing at full contact or even with pads yet, so we’ll have to wait until later on to see how Banks looks on the field.

But fans should be keeping a good eye on him this preseason, given how important he is to helping San Francisco with its issues on the O-line interior.