The 49ers’ offensive line hasn’t been the strongest in pass protection so far this season.
Starting right tackle Colton McKivitz is typically at the forefront of those issues. But he isn’t the only lineman that’s been struggling. Center Jake Brendel is right there with McKivitz. He’s arguably been the worst starter on the offensive line in pass-blocking.
Pro Football Focus has Brendel graded with a 29.5. That’s the worst grade of all centers in the NFL. He’s a weakness that defenses look to exploit. That won’t cease anytime soon either. Even rookie Dominick Puni is holding his own in pass protection better than Brendel is.
However, 49ers offensive line coach Chris Foerster recently gave his vote of confidence to his struggling starter Brendel.
“First of all, he had a better game than he did the first game. Everybody did for the most part, hard to believe with the sack production and things like that. But we did take a step forward in a lot of ways,” Foerster said. “I think some of the bad plays stood out and so that’s it. Right now he’s a much better option, quickness, intelligence, experience, one-on-one pass blocking ability, ability to finish in the run game on the second level. His ability to snap off on double teams.”
Foerster isn’t too critical of Brendel and believes he’s been ok. But he also could be trying to keep Brendel’s confidence up. That is something that Foerster has mentioned in the past. He tries to uplift his players rather than go all in on them with harsh critique.
Even if Foerster and the 49ers wanted to consider a change, they’d be down on options. At this point, they cannot sign anyone, and a trade for a center isn’t common. Plus, the 49ers aren’t to find anyone they can plug and play at the position. Brendel is the best they have now, and no one is going to dethrone his role as the starter.
“He’s better than [Ben] Bartch. He’s better than [Nick] Zakelj. He’s better than [Drake] Nugent,” said Foerster. “He’s better than a lot of players, as to why he was an alternate last year at the Pro Bowl level because he does have a lot of those traits that do those things. He’s never perfect like all of us. Every year’s different and we got to work our way into this year and see. Maybe some of these issues that we’ve seen will stick around, maybe they won’t. We’ll have to see.”
