San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch told reporters on Sunday, “We’re not done yet” when speaking about left guard and adding competition.
The Week 1 starter from 2025 signed with the Detroit Lions. The playoff starter signed with the Las Vegas Raiders. That left 2025 seventh-round draft pick Connor Colby as the only returning player to see the field at left guard last season, unless you count Nick Zakelj’s 23 snaps in Weeks 7 and 8.
The 49ers could have re-signed both Ben Bartch and Spencer
Burford. Instead, they added 30-year-old Brett Toth, who played more than 100 snaps for the first time in his four-year career and saw his first action in two years this past season. The wild card in the group is Robert Jones, who played over 1,000 snaps and started every game for Mike McDaniel in 2024, but missed 2025 with a neck injury.
Matt Hennessy, the 49ers backup center last season, is off to Dallas. Toth played center in a pinch last season for the Eagles. If that’s the plan for Toth, it would make sense for the Niners to add a guard to compete with Jones and Colby.
Realistically, the 49ers won’t add a left guard until they get into the fourth round, where they have four selections. The only interior offensive lineman projected to go in the first round is Penn State’s Olaivavega Ioane, who has been mocked in the teens.
There are three players projected to go in the second round range:
Oregon’s Emmanuel Pregnon
Texas A&M’s Chase Bisontis
Georgia Tech’s Keylan Rutledge
Pregnon has been playing college football since 2020. He’s started for effectively three seasons. A few measureables stand out, including 97th percentile hand size, a vertical jump, and a 92nd percentile broad jump. Sports Info Solutions had Pregnon as the most productive run blocker in the class. They also have him 72nd on their big board, which is kind of in no man’s land with the 49ers’ selections in this draft.
Bisontis is ranked 75th by SIS. He might slide in the draft due to a 20th percentile wingspan and 38th percentile hand size. However, Bisontis tested incredibly well, including a 40-time and vertical jump in the 90th percentile, as well as a 3-cone time in the 85th percentile. Bisontis was a three-year starter, with 21 of his 34 starts coming at left guard. Statistically, Bisontis was noticeably worse than Pregnon against the run and the pass.
SIS has Rutledge 87th overall. His stats are more in line with Pregnon’s. Rutledge’s 40 and vertical were also in the 90th percentile. The 4-year senior had 43 starts, but they all came at left guard. That’s not to say the 49ers won’t move whoever they draft. Dominick Puni was a left tackle.
The majority of prospects along the interior are slated to go after the fourth round, which is good news for the 49ers.
