There might be a problem brewing for the San Francisco 49ers as their left guard battle creeps into its fourth week and its third different participant.
Rookie fifth-round pick Carver Willis is running with the first team, supplanting veteran Robert Jones for the time being. Jones took over for second-year seventh-round pick Connor Colby. After a three weeks of practices, two joint sessions and one preseason game, head coach Kyle Shanahan didn’t sound confident that the team is any closer to finding its starter at the only open offensive line position.
“It’s still a competition,” Shanahan said. “No one’s really completely made it easy on us yet. I still think we’ve got a lot more time to go, not a ton, but enough for guys to step up and do it. I think Carver, missing that time, has made him a little bit behind the 8-ball on it, but it’s good that he’s gotten a full week in and hopefully has no setbacks, so we can make that opinion here in about two weeks.”
Willis missed a portion of camp with a concussion which probably delayed his entry into the LG battle. It sounds like the team is going to let him make up for that lost time with plenty of reps in the final two weeks of the preseason.
The problem arises if Willis doesn’t acquit himself well in those two weeks, which would include a pair of preseason games vs. the Los Angeles Chargers and Las Vegas Raiders. If the 49ers aren’t convinced Willis is the starter by then, it forces them to either turn to Jones or Colby who couldn’t hold down the job enough to fend off competition.
It’ll be interesting to see how the 49ers handle it if Willis struggles for the next week or so. They could just go back to one of Colby or Jones in hopes they’ll have taken a step since their last attempts to win the job. There’s also the possibility of a trade closer to the season where they go acquire a player with real NFL experience before their season opener in Melbourne, Australia.
No matter what, this battle is going to go all the way down through the end of the preseason. And as of the second preseason game it sounds like the door is open for nobody to ultimately win the race.
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This article originally appeared on Niners Wire: Key 49ers position battle may not have a winner, and that’s a problem
Reporting by Kyle Madson, Niners Wire / Niners Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Kyle Madson, Niners Wire | USA TODAY Network
