Dominick Puni is the Favorite to Start at Right Guard for the 49ers

He has entrentched himself in the starting lineup and there's no reason to take him out now.

Grant Cohn | Aug 11, 2024

Mar 3, 2024; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Kansas offensive lineman Dominick Puni (OL59) during the 2024 NFL Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

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San Francisco 49ers

The main training camp battle for the 49ers this year is at right guard and a rookie is running away with the job.

Third-round pick Dominick Puni is the clear favorite to start at right guard for the 49ers this season. That was evident during their 17-13 preseason loss to the Titans on Saturday. Puni started the game and played the entire first half. Meanwhile, Spencer Burford is out with a broken hand and Jon Feliciano is out with a knee issue. So Puni is winning the competition by default.

But he's also earning the job. On Saturday, he blocked particularly well in the run game and was able to generate movement at the point of attack, which is something Burford can't do. That's why the 49ers rarely run to the right unless the running back cuts back after starting to his left. Puni might actually make the 49ers' running game balanced.

And in the passing game, Puni has shown all offseason that he can anchor and hold his ground against powerful defensive tackles -- something Burford doesn't do well, either. So Puni seems like an upgrade.

But the main reason he's going to win the job is because he's healthy and available while the other two have been in and out all offseason. Teams want continuity on their offensive lines and Puni has been at every practice since the 49ers drafted him. He has entrentched himself in the starting lineup and there's no reason to take him out now. He'll be a starter for the next few years.

Published Aug 11, 2024

GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.