49ers offensive lineman injured quad lifting weights after minicamp

The 49ers won't have their starting left guard when training camp starts today.

On Friday, the 49ers placed Ben Bartch on the Non-Football Injury List with a quad injury. Yesterday, the 49ers revealed how the injury happened.

“He hurt himself working out away from here," John Lynch said. "You know, he's one of those guys, not going to put a timeline, but relatively soon should be coming back.” 

Apparently, Bartch injured his quad while lifting weights after minicamp ended. This sounds like a relatively concerning injury for a player such as Bartch who hasn't been able to stay healthy in the NFL.

So is Bartch still the favorite to start at left guard in place of Aaron Banks who signed with the Packers this offseason?

"No," Shanahan said. "But he is right there competing with guys, you know, him and Nick Zakelj. We all know Spencer Burford can do that. He's done it before. We're starting him out working to try to get that swing tackle spot. We also know he can hop right in at guard and play because he started there for us in our ‘23 season with Jon Feliciano. You know, we had Bartch and Zakelj competing through OTAs, but like I'll say since 2018, probably ‘19, what is OTAs when it comes to O-Linemen and stuff. You know, we have to actually go out there and do more football. But he's in the competition, he's in the mix.”

Last year, Dominick Puni became the starting right guard by default during training camp because both Burford and Feliciano were injured. Then, Puni played so well that the 49ers saw no need to replace him when Burford got healthy.

Now, Zakelj has an opportunity to take the left guard job in a similar fashion. He has no one to compete with until Bartch comes back, and Bartch can't stay healthy for more than a few weeks at a time.

Don't be surprised if Zakelj is starting next to Trent Williams in the 49ers' season opener.