Our preseason offensive line evaluations continue with the NFC West. RosterWatch Nation knows their best friend is a good offensive line. So do all the head coaches in this division. There’s been a lot of change out West and we’re here to break it down.

*We credit Pro Football Focus, STATS and Football Outsiders in assessment of past performance of the offensive linemen outlined below

San Francisco 49ers

The Niners fielded a strong offensive line in 2014, but suffered the loss of two quality starters in Mike Iupati and Anthony Davis during the offseason. Despite those losses, San Fran will still likely have the best offensive line in the NFC West this season. Arizona is the only team in the division that can challenge it.

It’s not a coincidence that general manager Trent Baalke has continued building the line through the NFL Draft in recent years. Several of those prospects will be in the mix to play this season under new 49ers HC Jim Tomsula, including 2015 draft picks Ian Silberman and Trenton Brown. Free agency was quiet as Baalke cut bust OT Jonathan Martin, and signed aging underperformer OT/OG Erik Pears.

Per our 49ers inside sources, the starting lineup is far from settled and the situation will be fluid throughout training camp. Still, this has the look of a quality unit that won’t take the step back many casual observers are expecting in 2015.

Projected Starting Lineup

Joe Staley, LT 6’5″ 315 pounds- Cornerstone of the offensive line, a perennial Top 5 LT, he’s a pro-bowl-caliber player signed through 2019

Marcus Martin, LG 6’3″ 321 pounds- Early RD3 pick in 2014 who was highly touted, great size and strength, C/OG versatility, started 8 games down the stretch as the season unraveled last year and graded poorly, lost 10 pounds and improved his conditioning in offseason, he will also compete at C and RG – he was one of our favorite OL prospects from his draft class

Daniel Kilgore, C 6’3″ 308 pounds- RD5 pick in 2011, started first 7 games at C in 2014 and graded positively, was lost for season with a broken leg, limited action prior to 2014

Brandon Thomas, RG 6’3″ 317 pounds- A top 100 pick in the 2014 NFL Draft, did not play as a rookie due to a torn ACL suffered during a pre-draft workout for New Orleans, likely would have been a top 50 pick otherwise, played LT in college, held his own against Jadeveon Clowney on film, good length and positional versatility, appears to still be recovering from injury and is said to still have a slight “hitch to his giddy up” which was likely why he participated with the 2nd team at RG during minicamp, will almost be a year-and-a-half removed from injury when season starts and should be ready, will be challenged by rookie Trenton Brown, or if healthy could compete at RT if Alex Boone stays at RG

Alex Boone, RT 6’8″ 300 pounds- UDFA from 2009 heading in to a contract year and has been clamoring for more money, now has chance to slide from RG to RT with Davis gone, was an RT at Ohio State, graded well in limited duty at LT in 2011 but fits better on the right side, has been a very good player for SF at RG last three years, likely due to contractual tension, Boone was inexplicably running with 2nd team at LG during mini camp, he may be a surprise candidate to start at LG but the team is best suited to keep him on the right side at RG/RT

Notes-

It’s worth noting that several services have graded recently retired RT Anthony Davis as a below-average performer over the last few seasons. San Francisco may not have suffered quite the loss it’s been hyped up to be. More was made of losing Davis because the 49ers had such a disastrous offseason with unexpected attrition and Davis’ late surprise retirement was the cherry on top. Thank goodness GM Trent Baalke has drafted with intuition in recent years. This is a talented and versatile unit that will still be anchored by two Pro Bowl caliber players in Joe Staley and Alex Boone.

The starting lineup hinges on who wins the job at right tackle. The Niners have tons of quality interior options. Marcus Martin and Daniel Kilgore will compete to improve the center position. If Kilgore prevails at C, then Martin, Brandon Thomas, Trenton Brown, Alex Boone, Ian Silberman, Erik Pears, and Andrew Tiller will battle it out in a heated competition at guard. The two best men will be vetted out, and the interior of this line will be strong. We then expect the right tackle position will likely be decided between Alex Boone, Brandon Thomas, Trenton Brown, and Erik Pears. 49ers brass insists they’re high on Pears. We don’t buy it – he’s old and has been so terrible in recent years that BUF (who badly needs OL help) let him go in the offseason. Boone is the best option to begin the season.

We like the look of this unit for the running game, which make us more comfortable with Carlos Hyde – even if we aren’t sure that some of the zone-concepts being implemented completely translate to his skill set at the NFL-level. Obviously, Hyde’s biggest concern will be volume of touches, as he’s got three solid runners behind him on the depth chart nipping at his heels. Although he still projects to almost exclusively be the goal-line back.

Surprisingly, shockingly … we are also beginning to think that behind this quality unit that Reggie Bush may be a late-round sleeper – at least to start the first month of the season off hot. And, to a lesser extent, in deep, keeper and dynasty leagues, rookie Mike Davis offers some allure.

A change in offensive philosophy may affect the passing game slightly this season, but from the perspective of the offensive line, we don’t expect much to change. It’s a passing game we rarely buy stock in anyways. Anquan Boldin or Vernon Davis are the only guys we’d even consider if late-round value presented itself in fantasy drafts – and we don’t even really love either of those players in this circumstance. As for Colin Kaepernick, he’s already expected to be on the designed-run more this season. Kaepernick may also face some increased pocket pressure as this starting lineup settles in, it could lead to a few extra fantasy points on the ground. His arrow is pointing sightly up, but we aren’t comfortable starting the season with Kaepernick as anything other than a backup QB on our fantasy rosters.

*The incoming rookies are expected to compete for playing time this season. Similar to the trend we see with Seattle, both of them were college offensive tackles expected play guard in the NFL. Here’s the scouting book on each:

Ian Silberman, OG 6’5″ 294 pounds – RD6 draft pick, offensive line anaylst Lance Zerlien says “he plays with balance and power and is nasty, but has limited movement skills”, ” he’s a college RT who will play OG in NFL”

Trenton Brown, OG 6’6″ 353 pounds- RD7 draft pick, played OT at Florida, NFL Draft Expert Mike Loyko says “he’s one of the biggest players to ever enter the NFL Draft…Brown is a powerful run blocker that mauls defenders and gets movement at the point of attack….for such a big man, Brown is not a stationary blocker…he has adequate movement skills….plays with a mean streak” “He struggles to mirror in pass protection and plays with poor balance…a waist bender that struggles keeping his pads over his feet”, has been taking 1st team reps at RT in OTAs but would likely make a better replacement at OG to begin his career, a guy I always had my eye on at the Sr Bowl because he was a mammoth – didn’t stand out but didn’t look like he didn’t belong either and kind of quietly fit in.