4 dream scenarios 49ers can hope for during 2022 season
By Peter Panacy
The 49ers do have a lot going for them heading into 2022, but they can hope for the best of possible situations to pan out this upcoming year.
In some regard, the context ahead of the San Francisco 49ers’ upcoming 2022 campaign just got a little bit easier than it was a year ago at this time.
For starters, the NFC West should no longer be viewed as the elite division in the league, particularly after the Seattle Seahawks traded away quarterback Russell Wilson to the Denver Broncos, making the AFC West the unquestioned gauntlet of a division this season.
If anything, the AFC as a whole is the vastly superior conference, at least as far as quarterbacks go, meaning the Niners’ road to get back into the playoffs should be considerably easier than it was in 2021.
That’s one scenario panning out nicely for head coach Kyle Shanahan and Co. Yet there are plenty of other scenarios San Francisco can hope for when the regular season kicks off this September and then throughout the rest of the season.
Let’s look at those.
49ers dream scenario No. 4: Offensive line is a strength, not a weakness
There are plenty of reasons to be concerned about the 49ers offensive line entering 2022. After losing left guard Laken Tomlinson in free agency and center Alex Mack to retirement, the interior is of particular concern, as second-year pro Aaron Banks is poised to relieve Tomlinson despite seeing only five regular-season snaps his rookie year, and Mack’s replacement is yet to be determined.
It’ll likely be veteran Jake Brendel and his three regular-season starts dating back to 2016, though.
While many a Niners fan is probably worried a bit about this unit, Pro Football Focus appears to be a bit more bullish about the O-line’s ability to weather changing out two-fifths of its starting crop from a year ago, ranking this group 14th among all NFL O-lines entering this upcoming season.
That’s not terrific, but it certainly isn’t a disaster in the making.
The dream scenario here would be San Francisco’s O-line exceeding expectations, led by the All-Pro prowess of left tackle Trent Williams, while Banks winds up living up to his second-round NFL Draft status.
And maybe Brendel winds up being, gulp… not bad.