A couple months ago around the draft I posted an article titled “Protecting The 49ers Signal Caller.” In said article I talked about what the team needed as far as offensive line help. I talked about the Niners needs at the right tackle position and both guard positions. The top prospects were Eugene Monroe, Jason Smith, Andre Smith and Michael Oher. I talked about the team and their tenth pick and who would be suitable.

The 49ers did not take an offensive lineman in the entire draft, while it was considered to be one of the team’s biggest needs.

Fast forward a little while and the 49ers are looking like they knew what they were doing, they signed a kid by the name of Alex Boone who could be the right tackle of the future and they signed a veteran in Marvel Smith. Throughout training camp a battle waged between Smith and T Adam Snyder for the starting RT position. At this point everyone else was considered to be at least solid. Joe Staley, Eric Heitman and Chilo Rachal seemed to be set for the season and David Baas was just good enough to keep his position at LG. Backup Barry Sims was abysmal as always but who cares, he’s a backup.

Fast forward even more and Adam Snyder has won the battle at RT. Smith responded to this by announcing his retirement and once again the 49ers are questioned by the fans and the media: “Why didn’t you take a tackle in the draft?” Cue the release of Jaguars T Tony Pashos and the Niners once again scrape by with a little bit of confidence. They’ve brought in a guy who can compete, who can assure this line plays to its full potential.

Jump to right now and where does the team stand? Well, the 49ers have allowed sixteen sacks so far this season and they’re on pace to break the 55 they allowed last season. In very limited playing time free agent acquisition Tony Pashos has allowed 2.5 sacks and has been put on the ground at least that many times oh say… every drive. His ’superior’ at right tackle, Adam Snyder, has allowed a team high 3.5 sacks. This reminds me of the last offensive line article I posted, I believe it was titled “49ers Uncertain At Right Tackle.” Seems I’ve called that one, right?

But you see, I expected that. I hoped, of course that Adam Snyder could progress nicely. I hoped that Tony Pashos could fill an area of need, just as the entire 49ers organization and fan base hoped. Still, I expected that. What I didn’t expect was RG Chilo Rachal giving up two sacks and generally playing terribly. At the end of last season Rachal seemed to have been playing at a very high level and was expected to be one of the stronger parts of the line.

LG David Baas hasn’t been exactly great either, surrendering 2.5 sacks and generally being terrible blocking in space. Whenever he has to move outside of his small zone he seems to just fall directly on his face. The backup at both guard positions, Tony Wragge has never proven to be much more than average if that. So, what’s good?

Well the 49ers still have LT Joe Staley. Staley has given up two sacks this season but does not routinely get beat like Rachal, Baas, Snyder and Pashos seem to do on every single play. His play is up to par with what I hope for right now, he can only improve. The real bright spot is C Eric Heitman, who is one of the team captains on offense. He has allowed no sacks this season and routinely keeps his blocks. He plays hard and wins his battles time after time. Center is the one position we need not worry about at all.

So what do the 49ers do at this point? The main goal of course, is to get Shaun Hill some protection so we can evaluate if he’s even good or not. He hasn’t played up to par but that could easily be blamed on the likes of players like Rachal and Snyder who seemingly always let a guy get to Hill.

Rachal looks to be heading for the bench as he seems to be taking most of the blame from head coach Mike Singletary. Singletary was a big supporter of Chilo last season and early this season, but the RG seems to have fallen out of favor. As far as a “big change” I don’t think bringing up Tony Wragge is going to exactly turn this offensive line around.

The only solution at this point is to try and put one of those first round picks to work. The 49ers currently hold two first rounders, one from Carolina and their own for next year’s draft and it wouldn’t be all that surprising to know that the team is making some calls. Still, at this point it looks like no trade will be made and the 49ers will be without any new faces on the offensive line. One hope is that Alex Boone is doing well on the practice squad an could possibly come in and at least be a strong presence on the right side of the line. Still, it seems like Shaun Hill (and perhaps Alex Smith if Hill continues his poor play) are doomed to scramble away from pressure on just about every play remaining this year. The only hope seems to be that the 49ers coaching staff can coach some good play into these guys.

One can only hope.