On the offensive side of the ball, the San Francisco 49ers have one major competition: left guard.
Heading into the offseason, following the departures of Spencer Burford and Ben Bartch in free agency, the position seemed completely open. The 49ers didn’t do much to address the spot in terms of a major commitment. Instead, they added guards Brett Toth and Robert Jones on one-year deals, while drafting Carver Willis in the 2026 NFL Draft.
From the early stages of the offseason, this felt like it was 2025 seventh-round pick Connor Colby’s job to lose. Colby really struggled early as a rookie after being thrust into the action following an early-season injury to Bartch. He was later replaced by Burford, who kicked back inside, and barely saw snaps after Week 8.
But as training camp has ensued, Colby has been bumped to playing more snaps with the second-team offense, as Robert Jones and even Carver Willis have started to earn first-team left guard snaps. Jones was listed on the team’s first unofficial depth chart as the starting left guard.
Willis was a tackle in college who seemed primed to kick inside to either guard or center. It also felt like he could earn a shot at left guard in training camp, but a concussion took away valuable practice reps, and he’s now catching up to get back into the mix.
How do the 49ers see the competition, and is it beneficial to have a three-way competition at this stage of the offseason?
“Yeah, you said three guys competing. There’s a double-edged sword to that,” offensive coordinator Klay Kubiak said on Sunday.
“One is you do have to divide up the reps, and that takes some reps away from guys with the ones, but that’s okay because those guys are competing. And to me, when they compete, they bring the best out of each other, or that’s at least the goal. Those three guys or four guys, however many it is, they come out every day with the mindset that they got to earn it and they got to be at their best. I think that brings out the best in those guys.”
Overall, though, there’s one key factor to the position: consistency. That’s what will determine the winner.
“But we’re looking for consistency,” Kubiak acknowledged. “We’re looking for guys who come off the ball and play with great technique, consistency. And then at the end of the day, like, no matter who ends up starting Week 1, we’re going to need multiple guys in that spot. We always have.
Whether it’s injuries or guys needing a rotation, that’s just the nature of playing offensive line. So, this competition to me, whoever comes out of it in Week 1, it’s going to make that whole group better. And like I said, we’re going to need all those guys down the road. So, to me, it’s an important part of our team is just guys competing and people getting better.”
Dominick Puni missed Sunday’s practice with an injury, sliding Jones over to right guard and giving Colby some first-team opportunities at left guard. So the competition is ongoing. But the fact that there’s as much movement and uncertainty as there is doesn’t exude confidence about the position heading into the 2026 season.