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49ers RG Dominick Puni has a Chance to Become the NFL's Best Guard

Expect Puni to take a major leap forward this year.
Grant Cohn|
Sep 9, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers guard Dominick Puni (77) after defeating the New York Jets at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images
Sep 9, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers guard Dominick Puni (77) after defeating the New York Jets at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images | Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

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San Francisco 49ers

No, the 49ers didn't seriously address their offensive line this offseason, but at least they have Dominick Puni.

Puni was one of the best offensive linemen in the NFL last season as a rookie. And he played right guard -- a position he never played in college.

Now as he enters his second season, he has a chance to become the best guard in the NFL according to Pro Football Focus.

"Puni was a revelation for the 49ers last season, finishing with the sixth-best overall grade among qualified guards at 80.5," writes PFF analyst Dalton Wasserman. "A major factor in that success was his effectiveness in Kyle Shanahan’s outside zone scheme — his 82.1 outside zone run-blocking grade ranked fifth among all guards.

"With another year of development in Shanahan’s system, both as a run blocker and pass protector, Puni could soon challenge for the top spot at the position. Atlanta’s Chris Lindstrom has held that title for the past three seasons as the NFL’s highest-graded guard. It won’t be easy to unseat him, but if any young player is positioned to do it, it might be Puni."

Puni is extremely quick for his size, and his quickness is what allows him to be so effective as a run-blocker in the 49ers' outside-zone-blocking system. Now, he needs to improve his strength and technique in pass protection. Last season, he gave up three sacks and earned a PFF pass-blocking grade of 69.9, which is just slightly above average.

Expect Puni to take a major leap forward this year.

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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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