All 49ers

PFF Ranks 49ers Guard Aaron Banks 73rd Among NFL Free Agents

The 49ers most likely will need to find a new left guard this offseason.
Grant Cohn|
Sep 9, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers guard Aaron Banks (65) blocks New York Jets defensive tackle Quinnen Williams (center left) during the second quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images
Sep 9, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers guard Aaron Banks (65) blocks New York Jets defensive tackle Quinnen Williams (center left) during the second quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images | Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

In this story:

San Francisco 49ers

The 49ers most likely will need to find a new left guard this offseason.

Aaron Banks will be an unrestricted free agent this offseason and the 49ers probably won't re-sign him. That's because he was highly inconsistent during the past three seasons as the starting left guard. And yet, he still could have a significant market considering Pro Football Focus ranks him the 73rd-best free agent on the market this year.

"The former second-round pick showed steady growth over his four-year rookie deal, though he never eclipsed 90% of snaps played in a season at a position where you’d like to play as close to 100% as possible," writes PFF. "Banks moves very well in the run game for his size, which is presumably what made him most attractive to the 49ers in the first place, but still has room to grow in pass protection."

The 49ers spent an uncharacteristically-high pick on Banks when they took him in Round 2 of the 2020 draft. They usually don't select guards that high. Clearly, they thought Banks could be special. And maybe he will be special one day. But he hasn't been special for the 49ers. And as PFF points out, he has been injured too often.

The 49ers need to find a cheaper, better left guard than Banks, and that means drafting one, perhaps as high as Round 2 again. Ohio Stat's Donovan Jackson would be a good choice. He currently is projected as a mid-second-round pick.

Download and follow The Cohn Zohn Podcast.

Published
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.

Share on XFollow grantcohn
Home/News