SANTA CLARA — Quick, name a good offensive line in the NFL.
You probably said the Philadelphia Eagles, and you’d be right. The Super Bowl champions’ o-line is fantastic.
But what is the second-best offensive line in the NFL?
When I ask that to folks around the league, I hear a few different names: Baltimore, Detroit, Denver, and even Tampa Bay.
And that tells me the state of offensive line play in the NFL today is decidedly mediocre.
Which tells me that there’s still quite solid logic in the 49ers’ offensive line game plan.
This time last year, I wrote that the 49ers were going all-in on offensive line coach Chris Foerster. They didn’t need to sign a big-time free agent or draft a linemen in the first or second round — they would trust that Foerster would take whatever the Niners gave him and he’d turn it into a good-enough unit.
So far, he has.
The Niners’ offensive line is not good, but it’s not terrible, either. And there should be optimism that this season, it might even be “OK.” Ben Bartch, who is making $1.2 million this season, should be the starting left guard in September and should represent an upgrade from Aaron Banks. Austen Plesants and converted guard Spencer Burford have looked the part at tackle (as much as one can) in offseason drills — they are reasonable replacements for departed swing tackle Jaylon Moore. Even if the high-end talent isn’t there, the 49ers’ offensive line has some depth this season.
And more importantly, it’s cost-effective.
That matters a lot when you have a quarterback on a big, fat contract.
Sure, the Niners can spend on offensive linemen — money isn’t that tight — but they’d prefer to put the money in other places. They’re not in a position to spend whatever wherever.
And when Banks — who was the weak link of the five-man starting front last season — lands a four-year, $77 million contract from the Packers, and Moore signs a two-year, $30 million contract after only playing 19 percent of the Niners’ 4,336 offensive snaps the last four seasons, it’s undeniable that the offensive line market is broken.
Throwing money at the issue is not the solution to a team’s o-line problems. It will probably just create more problems.
And drafting offensive linemen early isn’t likely to be the solution, either. The college game barely resembles the professional game on the offensive line these days, meaning that even first-round picks might need a redshirt year as a rookie to catch up. There’s also a position pedigree that’s developing, like with quarterbacks. Offensive linemen are being taken earlier and earlier than their collegiate play suggests. If you want one of the few guys who can plug-and-play, you’d better get after them early. (Hence, the Niners taking Dom Puni last year two rounds before his consensus draft grade — whatever that’s worth.)
But doesn’t it say something that other teams want the guys the 49ers seem content with letting leave?
And it’s not as if the Niners wouldn’t take an offensive line prospect they deem worthy of that draft slot.
It’s all to say that they believe that with Forester at the helm, they can get by without the serious investments other teams are making.
They’re not wrong.
Being an offensive lineman is a thankless job. It’s also a gig where good and bad seem obvious, but everything else is difficult to discern.
It’s also a position that’s easily — or appropriately, I’d argue — quantified.
Buffalo’s offensive line gets immense credit for not allowing sacks last season. Was that them or quarterback Josh Allen?
Was the Chiefs’ offensive line actually good, as Pro Football Focus implies, or did their three good offensive linemen (the admittedly excellent guard-center-guard combo of Joe Thuney, Creed Humphrey, and Trey Smith) cover up the grades of the worst tackle duo in the league (which was attacked all season)?
That applies to the 49ers, too. Center Jake Brendel had a bad season, at least by my eyes, in 2024. Tuesday, Foerster told reporters that he was the best-graded center the Niners have had since Shanahan arrived in 2017.
All this to say that judging offensive line play is seriously subjective at best and borderline irresponsible without knowing the actual play call on the field.
And these days, with the steady deterioration of play at the position — a byproduct of spread offenses, bad coaching, and a lack of bodies at the lower levels of the game — it doesn’t take much to be good enough.
I’m guessing that, health permitting, the 49ers’ pressure rate will go down in 2025.
Still, Purdy was one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL per Expected Points Added, despite being pressured more than 35 percent of the time last season. He was one of two quarterbacks amongst the top-15 most-pressured signal-callers to have a positive EPA. He doubled the other, Sam Darnold, with 67 EPA to 26. (Will Levis was minus-94.4, which almost seems impossible.)
And Purdy did all that with the 26th highest rate of play-action passes and the 29th ranked average separation for targeted receivers. Things were not made easy for him.
A little bit better than good enough on the offensive line could spur Purdy to have a monster, perhaps MVP-caliber season.
I can see not only that for the 49ers this upcoming season, but also how this offensive line shakes out in the years to come.
Contrary to the folks who call into my KNBR shows and comment on my podcast, Forester helped turn right tackle Colton McKivitz into a solid player in recent seasons. I’d go as far as to say he was pretty good last year — arguably the Niners’ best offensive lineman.
And seeing as McKivitz was better than Moore, who, again, is now a $15 million-a-year lineman, the Niners might have to wave goodbye to him after this season.
Cue the understudies, Burford and Pleasants, who are both in contract years but will assuredly be cheaper to re-sign.
Puni needs big money in a couple of years? That’s why Foerster brought in seventh-round pick Connor Colby and undrafted free agent Drew Moss (he seems to prefer the latter at this extremely early juncture) this offseason.
Brendel’s grade starts slipping? Drake Nugent is waiting in the wings.
The only thing that the Niners don’t have is a genuine replacement for Trent Williams.
But the concept of replacing one of the greatest tackles of all time is laughable. That’s a bridge you cross only when you have to, because there’s no way you’re going to succeed in that quest.
Otherwise, the Foerster Machine is working precisely as intended.
Which is to say that the Niners will be just fine — no better, no worse — on the offensive line.
And that, these days, will do.