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Tom Compton vs. Daniel Brunskill: 49ers Training Camp Battle

Who will win the 49ers' training camp competition to be the starting right guard?

The next few days, I will preview the 49ers’ top training-camp battles for 2020. Previously, I broke down the battle to be the No. 2 tight end -- Ross Dwelley versus Charlie Woerner. Now, I break down the battle to be the starting right guard:

Tom Compton versus Daniel Brunskill

Brunskill should have been the starting right guard last season, but the 49ers stuck with veteran Mike Person for way too long.

Even when Person got injured, and Brunskill replaced him for two games and outplayed him, the 49ers gave Person his job back for the playoffs and suffered for that decision. Person was dreadful in the Super Bowl. The 49ers cut him shortly after.

So they’ll make Brunskill the starter now, right?

Not necessarily.

The 49ers signed Tom Compton to a one-year, $2.7 million contract -- essentially the same deal Person had. Starter’s money. Plus Kyle Shanahan and his father, Mike Shanahan, drafted Compton in 2012. He is one of their guys. Plus he’s a veteran.

So the 49ers most likely will give Compton the majority of the starter’s reps at right guard during training camp. And to keep the job, he’ll have to show he’s a good run blocker who fits the 49ers’ run-first offense. But the 49ers won’t be able to judge his run-blocking in practice without full-speed hitting and tackling. And there will be no preseason games this year.

Meaning Compton probably won’t get a chance to lose the right-guard job until the regular season starts. And if history is an indicator, he’ll play poorly enough to lose the job by midseason, and Brunskill will take over by November at the latest.

Compton is on the clock.