NFL 2022: The biggest weakness of each NFC West team

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - AUGUST 21: Quarterback Drew Lock #3 of the Denver Broncos warms up before an NFL preseason game against the Seattle Seahawks at Lumen Field on August 21, 2021 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - AUGUST 21: Quarterback Drew Lock #3 of the Denver Broncos warms up before an NFL preseason game against the Seattle Seahawks at Lumen Field on August 21, 2021 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images) /
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INGLEWOOD, CA – JANUARY 30: Daniel Brunskill #60, Alex Mack #50, Laken Tomlinson #75, Trent Williams #71 and Colton McKivitz #68 of the San Francisco 49ers on the sidelines during the game against the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium on January 30, 2022 in Inglewood, California. The Rams defeated the 49ers 20-17. (Photo by Michael Zagaris/San Francisco 49ers/Getty Images) /

Biggest 49ers weakness for 2022 NFL season: Interior Offensive Line

One thing that has been made clear with the 49ers over the past couple of years is that they enjoy running the ball and that they are very good at running the ball.

Two of the main reasons that San Fran has been so good at running the ball is because of the coaching skill of Kyle Shanahan, and the run-blocking ability of his offensive line.

Kyle Shanahan’s father, Mike Shanahan, was one of the people who mastered zone-blocking. Mike, alongside offensive line coach Alex Gibbs, destroyed NFL defenses with their zone-blocking schemes as they turned out 1,000-yard rusher after 1,000-yard rusher.

Kyle has clearly taken after his father in terms of ground attack dominance. He has had dominant rushing attacks in San Francisco as well as Atlanta as both of Devonta Freeman’s 1000-yard seasons came when Shanahan was the offensive coordinator.

While Shanahan is one of the best offensive minds in the NFL, he has also had some help from his offensive line while in San Francisco. When Shanahan arrived in San Fran, he had the likes of Trent Brown and Joe Staley on his roster.

Flash forward to now, and he still has two dominant tackles in the form of Mike McGlinchey, and maybe the best tackle in the NFL, Trent Williams. The 49ers and Shanahan have even got quality play out of the interior offensive last season as Alex Mack and Laken Tomlinson proved to be two solid interior offensive linemen.

While Williams and McGlinchey are still in San Francisco and will be great pieces on the outside of the offensive line, there has been some change along the interior. On June 3rd, Mack announced his retirement from the NFL after 13 pretty strong seasons.

Another big blow to the 49ers was the loss of Laken Tomlinson as he signed a 3-year $40 million deal with the New York Jets.

With Mack and Tomlinson both now gone for their own respective reasons, the 49ers will need to replace them with some new fresh faces. The likely replacement for Tomlinson at left guard will be Aaron Banks.

Last year was Banks’ first year in the NFL, but he didn’t receive many snaps, and most of the snaps he did receive were on special teams.

It’s likely the 49ers were planning on Tomlinson possibly leaving and replacing him with Banks due to the fact that Banks was a 2nd round draft pick last season.

While Banks was a 2nd round pick, he still is a major question mark for the 49ers due to his lack of experience on the offensive line at the NFL level.

Replacing the now-retired Mack will likely be center veteran Jake Brendel. Brendel was in the 2016 NFL draft, but unfortunately for Brendel, he went undrafted.

After going undrafted, Brendel played a few seasons with the Miami Dolphins before he signed a one-year deal with the 49ers last season. Brendel would resign with the 49ers as he signed another one-year deal.

Brendel hasn’t played a ton of snaps in the NFL and would be a big question mark at center for the Niners. San Francisco could slide over Daniel Brunskill from the right guard position, but that would leave a hole at the right guard position that would likely be filled by a rookie.

San Fran has some high-level offensive tackles and a solid guard in Brunskill, but looking at the left guard at the center position, there are some reasons to worry.