How the 49ers Will Replace Alex Mack if He Retires

The most obvious way to replace Mack would be in the draft.

Grant Cohn | Apr 20, 2022

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San Francisco 49ers

Add another position to the 49ers' list of needs.

Pro Bowl center Alex Mack still hasn't decided if he will play this year or retire, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, which is troubling news for the 49ers, because the offseason training program started Tuesday and the draft is merely eight days away. So if Mack wants to retire, the 49ers need to know now so they can replace him.

The most obvious way to replace Mack would be in the draft. The top pick the 49ers' currently own is No. 61, which the 49ers theoretically could use on the best center available -- Dylan Parham from Memphis, Cam Jurgens from Nebraska or Cole Strange from University of Tennessee-Chattanooga.

But 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan generally prefers not to start rookies right away on offense. Just last year, he essentially redshirted Trey Lance, Aaron Banks, Trey Sermon and Jaylon Moore. Shanahan wants these young players to fully digest his vast and complex playbook before they step on the field.

Which means the 49ers might not look for an immediate replacement in the draft. Instead, they could sign a veteran free agent such as J.C. Tretter.

Unfortunately for the 49ers, they currently have the least cap space in the NFL. And unless they get rid of Jimmy Garoppolo soon, they probably won't be able to sign a veteran starter at center.

Which means the 49ers could move starting right guard Daniel Brunskill to center. Brunskill is a veteran, he knows the offense and he has started games at center for the 49ers. He could play the position for a season while the 49ers groom a rookie to take his place in 2023.

Don't be shocked if Brunskill moves to center this season and the 49ers' starting guards are Aaron Bankes and Jaylon Moore.

Published Apr 20, 2022

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.