All 49ers

Richard Sherman Says the 49ers Need to Overhaul their Offensive Line

Once again ater the 49ers' latest humiliating loss, people desperately are searching for someone to blame other than Brock Purdy.

Grant Cohn

Nov 14, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Thursday Night Football announce Richard Sherman during pregame show between Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Commanders at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images
Nov 14, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Thursday Night Football announce Richard Sherman during pregame show between Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Commanders at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images / Eric Hartline-Imagn Images
In this story:

Once again ater the 49ers' latest humiliating loss, people desperately are searching for someone to blame other than Brock Purdy.

Purdy essentially lost the 49ers' past two games -- he threw game-losing interceptions in the fourth quarter both weeks. But quarterbacks are hard to replace, and lots have people have talked themselves into Purdy being the 49ers' starting quarterback for quite a long time.

So instead of blaming him, the offensive line has come under fire. Former 49ers cornerback Richard Sherman went so far as to say the 49ers need to overhaul their offensive line this offseason.

"That offensive line needs to be the no. 1, no. 2 and no. 3 priority this offseason," Sherman said. "If you're going to pay this quarterback all the money you're going to have to pay him, you want to keep him upright so he can be the playmaker that he has been, this year he has been under a lot more duress, he has been using his legs more, he's had to leave the pocket more often than not -- it hasn't been great. And without Trent Williams, it has looked even worse. You need a right tackle. No ifs, ands or buts, no discussion, no nothing. You need to figure out a center, maybe in the second round. There are plenty of them in the Big 10. Maybe one in the SEC. And then maybe find a guard in free agency. It looks like you have one in Dominick Puni. Put a competition out there at left guard. And I know you can't just draft them (in every round), but that's what I would do. We're going to hit on one of them."

Sherman is correct that the 49ers offensive line needs to improve significantly, but let's not absolve Purdy of all the blame. He deserves a large share of it as well. He has sacked himself more than any other quarterback this season. He's making bad decisions, and that's not the offensive line's fault.

Dowload and follow The Cohn Zohn Podcast.

Published
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.

Home/News