During Week 2 of the preseason, second-year right guard Dominick Puni suffered a PCL injury in his knee that forced him out of the San Francisco 49ers' exhibition contest against the Las Vegas Raiders.
But it didn't seem too serious, at least at the time, and the 2024 third-round NFL Draft pick out of Kansas managed to start the regular season and hasn't missed any playing time over the course of the year.
However, at least in the first month-plus, it was evident Puni wasn't himself.
Neither was the Niners rushing attack, which struggled to find its footing despite a fully healthy All-Pro running back in Christian McCaffrey. Aside from a 119-yard rushing outburst in Week 1, San Francisco didn't get above 90 yards on the ground until Week 6's home showdown with the Atlanta Falcons when McCaffrey and Co. churned out a whopping 174 yards on the ground.
Puni was getting healthier at that point, too.
From Weeks 1 through 6, the 49ers averaged 82.2 rush yards per game. From Weeks 7 through 11, the Niners have averaged 110.
Dominick Puni's PCL recovery has aided 49ers' run game in a major way
As fans came to understand with McCaffrey and now wide receiver Ricky Pearsall's PCL injuries, those setbacks can be tricky and don't exactly go away in short order.
Because of this, San Francisco's rushing efforts were limited in both scope and effectiveness, helping explain the abysmal numbers over the first six weeks or so.
However, as Niners Nation's Kyle Posey elaborately explained, a healthy Puni has made a massive difference in getting McCaffrey and the ground game back on track:
"Around Week 7 was when you could see Puni begin to turn the corner and look like the player Trent Williams said had All-Pro potential as a rookie. Since Week 7, Puni has only accounted for four blown blocks in a span of five games. It’s been an incredible turnaround, and the primary reason why Christian McCaffrey and the ground game have gotten going.
"The 49ers’ rushing attack has been far more diverse, which has led to their effectiveness during the past month or so. When Puni wasn’t healthy, the team relied heavily on more zone concepts. As Puni has been able to move, we’ve seen more play calls that ask him to pull and execute on the move, as well as more screen passes. ...
"Around Week 7, you could see an extra pep in Puni’s step. Now, Shanahan could call these gap schemes in both directions. Now, Puni could not just redirect; he could adjust on the fly without having to think about his knee holding up."
The entirety of Puni's 2025 campaign also helps explain why some felt he was having a proverbial "sophomore slump" toward the beginning of the year, only to bounce back into the kind of player who garnered serious attention for all the right reasons during his rookie season.
Given it all seems to be health related, watching Puni be able to execute at a high level with the knee injury no longer an issue is the kind of relief fans have wanted all along.