The San Francisco 49ers may need to change one of their team-building trends this offseason if they’re going to get back to Super Bowl form in 2025.
Under head coach Kyle Shanahan the 49ers have never invested big money at either offensive guard spot. They used a second-round pick on left guard Aaron Banks in the 2021 draft and a third-round pick on right guard Dominick Puni in the 2024 draft, but beyond that they’ve not invested major assets into those two positions.
It might be time to change that.
Pro Football Focus circled the 49ers as the best landing spot for Chicago Bears free agent OL Teven Jenkins, who may be the top interior offensive lineman available this offseason.
Via PFF:
A series of nagging injuries plagued Jenkins’ 2024 campaign, but even still, he managed to produce well on the interior of this Bears’ offensive line. His 75.8 PFF pass-blocking grade stands as a career high for the 26-year-old guard after he allowed just a 3.8% pressure rate (also a career high).
The Bears took Jenkins in the second round of the 2021 draft just nine spots ahead of where the 49ers took Banks, who is also a free agent this offseason.
Jenkins struggled at his natural left tackle position as a rookie before moving inside to right guard where he had more success at both guard spots. In 2024 he started all 14 games he played at left guard.
It would be a substantial upgrade for San Francisco and an unprecedented spend for them at left guard, but that may be a change they have to make to get over the Super Bowl hump. They’ve struggled with interior pass rushers in their previous Super Bowl losses, and this year some of their issues on offense came from a lack of production on the offensive line. It may be time to start spending more on that unit.