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49ers offensive lineman injured quad lifting weights after minicamp

The 49ers won't have their starting left guard when training camp starts today.
Grant Cohn|
Dec 17, 2023; Glendale, Arizona, USA; San Francisco 49ers offensive lineman Ben Bartch (78) against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 17, 2023; Glendale, Arizona, USA; San Francisco 49ers offensive lineman Ben Bartch (78) against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports | Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

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San Francisco 49ers

The 49ers won't have their starting left guard when training camp starts today.

On Friday, the 49ers placed Ben Bartch on the Non-Football Injury List with a quad injury. Yesterday, the 49ers revealed how the injury happened.

“He hurt himself working out away from here," John Lynch said. "You know, he's one of those guys, not going to put a timeline, but relatively soon should be coming back.” 

Apparently, Bartch injured his quad while lifting weights after minicamp ended. This sounds like a relatively concerning injury for a player such as Bartch who hasn't been able to stay healthy in the NFL.

So is Bartch still the favorite to start at left guard in place of Aaron Banks who signed with the Packers this offseason?

"No," Shanahan said. "But he is right there competing with guys, you know, him and Nick Zakelj. We all know Spencer Burford can do that. He's done it before. We're starting him out working to try to get that swing tackle spot. We also know he can hop right in at guard and play because he started there for us in our ‘23 season with Jon Feliciano. You know, we had Bartch and Zakelj competing through OTAs, but like I'll say since 2018, probably ‘19, what is OTAs when it comes to O-Linemen and stuff. You know, we have to actually go out there and do more football. But he's in the competition, he's in the mix.”

Last year, Dominick Puni became the starting right guard by default during training camp because both Burford and Feliciano were injured. Then, Puni played so well that the 49ers saw no need to replace him when Burford got healthy.

Now, Zakelj has an opportunity to take the left guard job in a similar fashion. He has no one to compete with until Bartch comes back, and Bartch can't stay healthy for more than a few weeks at a time.

Don't be surprised if Zakelj is starting next to Trent Williams in the 49ers' season opener.

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Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

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