San Francisco 49ers center Jake Brendel suffered a hamstring injury 20 plays into the game against the Atlanta Falcons in Week 7. Matt Hennessy replaced him and played the remaining 46 plays. Before the injury, there was set to be a rotation at left guard.
Connor Colby started the game, as he’s done since Week 2. He allowed a quarterback hit on the first series that effectively ended the drive. Colby would play the second series, but Nick Zakelj got his opportunity on the ensuing drive.
Zakelj only made it four plays before Brendel’s injury. He had to feel like he had done something right. After all, the 49ers rushed for 12, 6, and 13 yards on the first three plays Zakelj was in. Unfortunately, a missed block by Zakelj led to a negative rush by Brian Robinson. After the play, Brendel was tapping his helmet, and that would be the last we saw from Brendel and Zakelj in Week 7.
Colby went on to have a typical game, missing a couple of blocks, making a few rookie mistakes, but holding his own for the most part. Kyle Shanahan said Colby improved from Week 6. That checks out statistically, too. Colby’s blown block percentage went from 4.5 percent to 3.3 percent from Week 6 to Week 7.
Not rotating on the fly after you lose a player who had started 58 consecutive games is understandable. Zakelj was the only other interior offensive lineman healthy. But how will that change moving forward, especially with Brendel expected to miss time?
Shanahan said, “It was a good start for Matt [Hennessey] and he’ll only do better with more reps this week.” But will the lack of depth force the Niners’ hand and leave Colby in the game for every snap? You were ready to replace him. And if not outright replace him, see if you could get by with Zakelj, who hadn’t played a snap all season until those four against Atlanta. That tells us the Niners were ready to see what they had in somebody else.
A Texans defensive line, which is second in yards before contact allowed against the run, might not be the unit you want to change things up against. Houston will be the best run and pass defense the Niners have faced all season. The opponent shouldn’t prevent you from making a change, nor should injury.
The question is what the Niners will do if Brendel is ruled out. Will Drew Moss be active? Does it matter whether Spencer Burford is the swing tackle? The goal was to see what Zakelj can do. He only had four reps. Ben Bartch remains a figment of our imaginations at this point. If you can’t rely on him, and you’re unsure if Colby is “the guy,” it only makes sense to give Zakelj, or Moss, for that matter, a series here and there.
What would you do if you were Kyle Shanahan?
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