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The 49ers' offensive line ranking will surprise fans

Originally posted on San Francisco 49ers on SI
By Parker Hurley | Last updated Sep 12, 2025 9:00 PM ET

The San Francisco 49ers' offensive line was never going to be elite. As long as it does not sit in the bottom ten or so in the league, the team is built for the rest of the roster to succeed. So, that is why it may be good news to see that the 49ers' line sits at 14th overall in the latest Pro Football Focus rankings. They were 11th in run blocking and 20th in pass blocking.

San Francisco 49ers offensive line ranks slightly above average

Puni is coming back from an injury and did not look completely healthy in his 2025 debut. The thought is that this is less about a step back from what he did last season and more about him being one or two games away from us really seeing what he can be.

It is nice that McKivitz played well, but it has to be mentioned that because Trent Williams is across from him, he receives the majority of the chip help and slide protections. They even had Kyle Juscyk in line next to him in week one. The team expects him to be clean in the environment they put him in.

Williams was the biggest disappointment. He was asked to shoulder more, but he did not handle himself against Boye Mafe. The 49ers' offensive line is going to go as he goes, so the start to the season struggles are not what the team needs. Still, they protected him all summer to keep him healthy, so it could make sense that he was rusty.

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Brendel is not helping the team grade out well, and Ben Bartch is looking to put in replacement-level play as well.

The unit is down two spots from the preseason rankings, but right now that feels a bit generous. It will come down to the progression of Williams and the health of Puni. On paper, these two are much better, which is why they were ranked so highly and given the benefit of the doubt after one below-average performance.

San Francisco was ranked 12th to start the year because the site was trusting Williams to be healthy and his old self. If that becomes the case after a few weeks, then the team will stick to this range of ranking.

If this ends up being the cliff season for Williams, then this could be a group that finds themself much lower in the ranking by the end of the season.

This article first appeared on San Francisco 49ers on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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