clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

PFF grades: 49ers offensive line struggles in run blocking, what's next?

The Pro Football Focus grades are not pretty for the San Francisco 49ers following their Week 3 loss to the Arizona Cardinals. We take a look at the offensive line specifically, looking back over the first three weeks.

If you buy something from an SB Nation link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.

It is not remotely surprising that the San Francisco 49ers did not grade out well according to Pro Football Focus. Whatever you think of PFF grading, the line has been bad this season. They got off to a good start in Week 1 against the Minnesota Vikings, but the last two weeks have seen the line play like many expected coming out of training camp.

I thought I would pull out all the grades for the 49ers offensive line over the first three weeks. The results are not entirely shocking: the right side of the line is worse than the left side. Marcus Martin has graded out as the worst of the five offensive linemen. Erik Pears and Jordan Devey are right there next to each other. Joe Staley ranks out the best, and Alex Boone is not that far behind him.

I figured Martin would continue to have growing pains, but he has had significant struggles. We saw the communication issue in Week 2, but he has struggled in most phases of the game. The team activated Nick Easton for the first time, over Ian Silberman. Do they let Martin work through this for now, or give Easton a shot? Daniel Kilgore is on the PUP list, but if the team continues to struggle, does the front office eventually decide to just leave him there to get back to 100 percent for 2016?

Pears and Devey are surprising nobody with their struggles. At some point, do guys like Brandon Thomas, Silberman and/or Trenton Brown get some run? The right side of the line is an absolute train wreck right now. The coaching staff obviously does not have much confidence in those three to get into the lineup right now, but at some point, does that change?

I've posted the grades below. Additionally, here are some sack, hurry, hit numbers

Sacks allowed

Joe Staley: 2
Alex Boone: 2
Jordan Devey: 1
Erik Pears: 1

Hits allowed

Joe Staley: 3
Marcus Martin: 2
Jordan Devey: 2

Hurries allowed

Erik Pears: 8
Joe Staley: 6
Jordan Devey: 6
Marcus Martin: 5
Alex Boone: 2

Overall

Player Overall Pass Run Penalty
LT Joe Staley 4.4 0.3 4.2 -0.1
LG Alex Boone 2.7 1.1 1.1 0.5
C Marcus Martin -12.0 -3.8 -7.5 -0.7
RG Jordan Devey -5.8 -3.4 -2.9 0.5
RT Erik Pears -7.6 -0.7 -6.3 -1.1

Week 3

Player Overall Pass Run Penalty
LT Joe Staley 1.0 0.5 1.3 -0.8
LG Alex Boone -1.6 -1.9 -2.2 0.1
C Marcus Martin -6.0 -1.9 -4.2 0.1
RG Jordan Devey -1.1 0.5 -1.7 0.1
RT Erik Pears 0.0 0.5 -0.7 0.2

Week 2

Player Overall Pass Run Penalty
LT Joe Staley 1.2 0.4 0.4 0.4
LG Alex Boone -0.1 -0.2 -0.1 0.2
C Marcus Martin -3.6 -1.2 -2.5 0.1
RG Jordan Devey -2.1 -3.2 0.9 0.2
RT Erik Pears -5.3 -0.1 -3.6 -1.6

Week 1

Player Overall Pass Run Penalty
LT Joe Staley 2.2 -0.6 2.5 0.3
LG Alex Boone 4.4 0.8 3.4 0.2
C Marcus Martin -2.4 -0.7 -0.8 -0.9
RG Jordan Devey -2.6 -0.7 -2.1 0.2
RT Erik Pears -2.3 -1.1 -2.0 0.3