49ers news: Dominick Puni’s emergence gives the Niners a top 10 offensive line

Heading into the 2024 season, the 49ers biggest question mark was the offensive line. There is no question about Trent Williams, but the 49ers were projected to run with the same offensive line that ended the season in the Super Bowl with Williams, Aaron Banks, Jake Brendel, Jon Feliciano, and Colton McKivitz.

Pro Football Focus initially ranked the 49ers offensive line at number 24. Here are Zoltan Buday’s thoughts from September 3rd:

“While the 49ers’ offensive line features a future Hall of Famer and arguably the best offensive lineman of the past few years in Trent Williams, those around him have so far failed to impress. The rest of the offensive line consists of either career journeymen, such as center Jake Brendel and right guard Jon Feliciano, or young offensive linemen who the 49ers hope can improve in 2024, such as Aaron Banks and Colton McKivitz.”

The obvious point with this assessment is that it was made before Feliciano landed on the injured reserve to open the season and the emergence of rookie Dominick Puni as right guard. Puni was impressed from the beginning when his opportunity presented itself, with Feliciano recovering from an injury during training camp.

Monday night was a dominant performance for the 49ers offensive line against a very solid defensive line in the New York Jets. PFF has pushed the 49ers offensive line up 14 spots to number ten on their offensive line power rankings for Week 2.

Aaron Banks did leave the game on Monday, which gave way to Spencer Burford stepping in for the final 16 snaps. According to PFF, Burford is projected to start on Sunday against the Vikings, but Kyle Shanahan has described Banks’ injury as day-to-day.

Buday labeled Williams as the 49ers best player and said: Trent Williams, who missed part of San Francisco’s training camp due to a holdout, seemed somewhat rusty compared to his standards, but he was still the highest-graded 49ers offensive lineman (81.6).

Brendel was labeled as the “weak link” on the offensive line, but Buday praised Puni by saying: Rookie right guard Dominick Puni had a terrific NFL debut against a strong defensive line. The rookie earned PFF pass-blocking and run-blocking grades over 70.0, while his 79.1 PFF overall grade ranked second on the 49ers’ offensive line and 11th among guards in Week 1.

Sunday’s game will present an interesting challenge for the 49ers with Brian Flores’s defense and propensity to blitz. With another strong performance, the 49ers offensive line has a chance to move even higher in the rankings.