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The Worst Player on the 49ers Offense

They have great players at nearly every position group, which is rare in today's NFL because there's a salary cap. And yet, not all their players can be great. Some are better than others, and one has to be the weakest link.

Grant Cohn

Feb 4, 2024; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Detailed view of San Francisco 49ers helmet. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 4, 2024; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Detailed view of San Francisco 49ers helmet. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
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The 49ers are one of the best teams of the past 20 years to not win a Super Bowl.

They have great players at nearly every position group, which is rare in today's NFL because there's a salary cap. And yet, not all their players can be great. Some are better than others, and one has to be the weakest link.

And on offense, that player is right tackle Colton McKivitz.

Before I explain why, let me first state that McKivitz is a bargain who outperformed his contract last season which is why the 49ers just gave him a one-year extension through 2025. But even with his new deal, he's still the 66th-highest-paid offensive tackle in a league in which 64 offensive tackles are starters. He's paid like a backup, because that's what he should be. A high-level backup who can start at a few positions in a pinch.

Last season was McKivitz's first year as a full-time starter, and it didn't go so well for him. According to SIS Data Hub, he gave up 13 sacks -- more than any other right tackle. And he wasn't a great run-blocker either considering how left-side-dominant their run game was.

And while McKivitz didn't cost the 49ers any games, he limited what their offense could do because he needed so much help. George Kittle frequently has to stay in the backfield and block rather than run routes primarily because the 49ers can't trust McKivitz to hold up one on one against anyone.

It's hard to imagine a Super Bowl winning team starting McKivitz.

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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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