49ers Still Need to Address This Issue When Jimmy Garoppolo Returns

The San Francisco 49ers were certainly hoping for better than a 2-2 start as the reigning NFC Champions, but considering they've been without starting QB Jimmy Garoppolo since Week 2, it's hard to be too worried about the .500 record.

There is one big issue with the offense that will need to be addressed even when Garoppolo returns to action, however — they've had a hard time protecting whoever it is that lines up at QB.

Giving up an average of 10 QB hits per game is pretty egregious, but there's still some room for optimism.

Pro Football Focus has the 49ers' graded No. 17 in the NFL in pass blocking. They graded out well in both their wins as well, it was just terrible showings in Week 1 and 4 that have pulled down this grade.

The area of weakness is also clear — the guard positions. Left tackle Trent Williams is still among the best in the NFL, but Laken Tomlinson ranks just 24th among 75 qualifying guards in PFF grade, while right guard Daniel Brunskill ranks just 53rd.

With such an obvious hole leading to this weakness, a sharp head coach like Kyle Shanahan should be able to address the problem. And he certainly needs to if he wants to keep Garoppolo healthy down the stretch this season.

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Jason Schandl is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Jason Schandl also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username Jaymun. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.