San Francisco 49ers: 5 biggest holes on the team’s roster
1. Interior Offensive Line
Starters: Laken Tomlinson, Weston Richburg, Mike Person
Competition: Joshua Garnett, Ben Garland
It’s never an ideal situation to have questions on your offensive line when your quarterback is in a make or break season. But, that’s exactly where the 49ers find themselves.
For what it’s worth, it should be noteworthy that this is the only offensive position on this list. Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo has one of the deepest sets of weapons in football.
While no wide receivers have big notoriety, the 49ers have a number of dangerous weapons on the outside, in the backfield, and of course at tight end.
The questions on the interior offensive line, however, could derail all of that.
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When the 49ers traded Daniel Kilgore to the Dolphins and signed Weston Richburg, Richburg was supposed to solidify the interior. However, the center dealt with injuries all of last season and put together the worst season of his career.
Richburg continues to struggle to step on the field. While the 49ers believe he will be ready for Week 1 of the regular season, if he can’t go, the team will be reliant on 31-year-old Ben Garland.
Garland has been a decent rotation player throughout his six-year career, appearing in 54 games, but has only made seven starts.
Laken Tomlinson has locked down the left guard position and since Joshua Garnett has faced yet another injury, Mike Person will be the go-to man on the other side of the ball. Person had his struggles last season and the team was hopeful that Garnett could push him.
Now the 49ers really have no other option.
There are, of course, perfect-case scenarios at all these positions. Most revolve around health. The 49ers did revamp their medical and training staffs this offseason with the belief that they were making some correctable mistakes.
They still play football though. As long as that’s the case injuries are going to come up.
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When they do, it will be on young players like Moore, Greenlaw, and Witherspoon to step up and turn these positions with questions into sure things.