The 49ers should be concerned about this player's stark regression

This player has fallen off.

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Coming into the second NFL season, expectations were very high for Dominick Puni.

The 49ers' right guard looked great as a rookie, and the team was leaning on him to become a leader. While it is only six games into the 2025 season, that has been anything but the case. The question is whether or not Puni has a legitimate excuse. 

Can the San Francisco 49ers get more from Dominick Puni in 2025?

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Puni entered the season with a PCL injury that he suffered in the preseason. Puni worked himself back to full health, but his play has not looked quite the same this year, and you have to wonder if that is the reason why. When head coach Kyle Shanahan was asked his opinion on Puni, he was quick to bring up the injury being a potential reason for his slow start. 

I think Dom has played better before in his rookie year. I think it was a big injury coming into this season, which was a huge setback for him and has made things more difficult. I'm sure that hasn't made things easier for him, but a lot of guys are battling stuff and I've got a lot of confidence in Dom. He's played at a high level for us before, so I expect him to do it again

Kyle Shanahan

While this is fair to bring up, we are now at the point in the season where this is concerning. He is not getting better. While many players lose to Vita Vea, Vea was dominating Puni and was seeking him out as the player to attack on obvious pass downs. Puni had a team-high six pressures allowed. 

It would be one thing if he started slow as he played through it, but got better as the game went on. However, you could argue that playing through the injury has kept him at a less than average level of play throughout the year. 

The 49ers may have been best off letting him sit in Week 1. Connor Colby would have had to start, but he has already been starting this year. Still, by Week 2 or 3, Puni may have been fully healthy and would have been providing solid play over the last couple of weeks. 

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Now that they are in the middle of the season, they may just be stuck with a lesser version of the player they thought they were getting this season. They are still a while away from the bye week, and if he finishes the season strong, that would be great, but they need to find a way to get by with him for the next few weeks. 

San Francisco already had questions on their offensive line, and they needed Puni to be their piece of reliability. Without Puni playing well, they are going to continue to slog on the ground, and they are not going to take a step in pass protection.