The San Francisco 49ers did indeed make a change to their offensive line in Week 5. But the change was kind of odd. A day after promoting Andrew Tiller from the practice squad to the 53-man roster, the 49ers used a rotation at the right guard position. Jordan Devey got the start, handling the position for the first two series. Tiller took over at that point, and it quickly evolved into a rotation throughout the game. Devey finished with 34 snaps, and Tiller finished with 34 snaps.
The New England Patriots have done something similar, so I suppose maybe Geep Chryst, Chris Foerster and Jim Tomsula are trying to emulate that. I don't really know for certain, but that's what they did. The question now is if they continue with that, or if Tiller wins the job over Devey. It will be interesting to see what Jim Tomsula and Geep Chryst have to say about that this week.
In tight end snaps, Garrett Celek got a lot more work than Vance McDonald. The 49ers announced McDonald as Vernon Davis's starting replacement, but Celek was the guy who got starter snaps. McDonald's third season is really not going particularly well. He'll throw a good block at times, but there's just not a whole lot of much there. I was willing to wait into year three given his injuries last year, but there is just not a lot of much happening there.
I'm not entirely sure what was up with Bruce Ellington. He got in for two offensive snaps early in the game, and collected 39 yards on two screen passes. He never saw the field again on offense. I suppose they couldn't go with a screen pass at him every time, but wouldn't he make sense for one of those jet sweeps, or even just a deep ball? That was a little baffling.
Here's the full offensive snap count.
Quarterback
Colin Kaepernick: 68
Running Back
Carlos Hyde: 61
Jarryd Hayne: 3
Reggie Bush: 3
Wide Receiver
Anquan Boldin: 63
Torrey Smith: 49
Quinton Patton: 24
Bruce Ellington: 2
TE
Garrett Celek: 61
Vance McDonald: 33
Blake Bell: 12
Offensive Line
Erik Pears: 68
Alex Boone: 68
Joe Staley: 68
Marcus Martin: 68
Andrew Tiller: 34
Jordan Devey: 34