Kyle Shanahan is Comfortable With who the 49ers Have at Center
The interior offensive line has had more negative moments than positive thus far at 49ers training camp.
Overcoming some less than stellar performances from both guard positions is feasible during the regular season, which puts all the focus onto the center. With Alex Mack retired, the 49ers decided to roll with their own players and refrained from drafting or signing a free agent. They are rolling with last year’s backup Jake Brendel and swinging Daniel Brunskill over from right guard since he has experience at center from 2020.
Not the greatest setup for a quarterback in Trey Lance who is making his debut starting season, but it is a setup that Kyle Shanahan is comfortable and content with.
“We’re very good with the people in our building. When you talk about veteran stuff, which everyone does, that just means, yeah, it's always a lot easier when you've seen someone do it for 16 games or 17 games. But no one does do that until you give them the opportunity. We see in practice every day now. We saw it last year that we have guys in our building who are definitely capable of it.”
So the 49ers will not be dabbling in the free agent market for a center. J.C. Tretter is the main free agent attraction to go after, but his injury history has to be bothering the 49ers. Plus, they don’t really have the salary cap space to sign him with Jimmy Garoppolo still on the books.
Along with shutting down free agent additions, Shanahan basically said that they’re going to roll with their guys and let them develop. If training camp is any indication, either center is going to have his fits and get beat, but that is exactly what Shanahan wants to see.
“It's going to happen a lot," he said. "And then how do you come back the next week? Are you rattled? Do you kind of hide or do you rise to the occasion and learn how to deal with it? And that's really, to me, what playing o-line is in NFL and you don't know that until you give those guys those opportunities, but you have to believe in what the person's made of.”
While you would like the interior offensive line to be more solidified considering it’s Lance’s debut season, you can’t have every position on the team in good standing. There are going to be some areas that are in question, which means the coaches have to get these players up to speed. This is why the coaches get paid the big bucks. Coach these players up and help them convert from a variable into a positive constant.
It won’t be easy by any means and it’ll take time for sure. The main concern is that the 49ers offense has shown to struggle immensely when they do not have a decent center at the helm. They’re hoping Brunskill or Brendel will be that guy, but I have some reservations about them.
Still, like Shanahan said, they’re going to find out what these players are made of and they won’t know until they handle and respond from low moments, which is something he’s confident in.
“We got the guys athletically and I also think we got the character in this room to handle those situations.”
