The 49ers lost one starter along their offensive line. On Tuesday, they made sure they wouldn’t lose another.
Per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, San Francisco locked up center Jake Brendel on a four-year deal amidst interest from a number of teams including the New York Jets.
It’s a four-year deal worth up to $20 million with $8 million guaranteed. At most, it would be a four-year, $5 million (per average) deal, which, if he remains the starter for that duration, would be a very affordable contract.
It’s a deal that should give the 49ers a fairly easy way out if he doesn’t perform well over the next year or two, but gets them a steal if he continues to improve as he did over the course of last season.
Brendel, 30, is an interesting case study. He’d been in the NFL since 2016, but never had a chance to play much outside of special teams until this year, when he received Pro Bowl consideration in his first year as a starter. Per Pro Football Focus, he allowed just one sack last season.
With Brendel back, the 49ers have the structure of their offensive line in place. Daniel Brunskill remains a free agent, but there’s now a lineup of Trent Williams, Aaron Banks, Brendel, Spencer Burford and Colton McKivitz as the potential starting group.
San Francisco has 11 draft picks this year. It would be a safe bet for them to add some depth to the offensive line with a couple of those picks.