Dominick Puni is the 49ers' Most Impressive Rookie

SANTA CLARA -- Through two preseason games and 18 training camp practices, third-round pick Dominick Puni clearly is the most advanced rookie on the 49ers.

He's their starting right guard and he's in line to play 100 percent of their offensive snaps this season. That's how impressive he has been in training camp.

So on Tuesday, the 49ers made him available to the media for the first time since the draft. Here's what he said about his transition to the NFL.

Q: How are you picking up the offense?

PUNI: "I feel like I'm doing pretty good. Every day is like another step toward learning something new. Especially in this offense, which is a difficult offense to jump in and learn for your first time. Just taking it day by day, learning the playbook. There still are little details within every play that I need to get better at."

ME: Did you play right guard before this year?

PUNI: "No, I haven't played right guard."

ME: How long did it take you to feel comfortable there?

PUNI: "Probably like a week."

ME: What's the most challenging aspect of playing guard as opposed to tackle?

PUNI: "Just working with less space. I think tackle is harder in pass protection. When you're one on one, you have all that space out there. I think run blocking is probably a harder job on the guard, just because you're facing heavier dudes and you have less space to create room and run off the ball. So I would say run blocking is probably a little bit harder."

Q: Did you have to do anything to transition your body from playing tackle to playing guard?

PUNI: "No, not really. I played guard in 2022 at Kansas kind of with the same build as I played tackle with in 2023. So I figured I'd be fine if I keep getting stronger and get a good anchor."