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Pro Football Focus Ranks 49ers C Jake Brendel 21st Among NFL Centers

Don't be surprised if 2024 is Brendel's final season as the 49ers' starting center.

Grant Cohn

September 21, 2023; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey (23) is congratulated by center Jake Brendel (64) after scoring a touchdown against the New York Giants during the second quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
September 21, 2023; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey (23) is congratulated by center Jake Brendel (64) after scoring a touchdown against the New York Giants during the second quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports / Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
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Jake Brendel is a huge success story.

He was an undrafted free agent in 2016. He bounced around the NFL and played on multiple practice squads. Then he finally became a full-time starting center in 2022 when he was 30 and even was a Pro Bowl alternate that season.

Brendel took a clear step backward in 2023, which is why Pro Football Focus recently ranked him 21st among the 32 starting centers in the NFL.

"Brendel’s pass-blocking grade suffered greatly in 2023, but the former Dolphin recorded a career-high 70.5 run-blocking grade, which ranked 15th among centers," writes PFF analyst Thomas Valentine. "There’s hope and expectation that Brendel, who recorded a 71.9 pass-blocking grade in his rookie season, can improve his all-around game next season."

Unfortunately for Brendel, he missed all of OTAs and minicamp with knee tendonitis. And this season, he'll be 32. So even though he has been a starter for only two seasons, he seems on the downside of his career. And considering there are 20 starting centers who currently are better than him, the 49ers probably should start looking for a replacement.

In minicamp, the 49ers starting center was 25-year-old Ben Bartch, who could be a late bloomer like Brendel was. In addition, the 49ers have Nick Zakelj, a former sixth-round pick who has been learning to play center the past two seasons. Plus they spent a third-round pick this year on Dominick Puni who took snaps in practice while he was in college.

Don't be surprised if 2024 is Brendel's final season as the 49ers' starting center.

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Grant Cohn
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.

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