The San Francisco 49ers have a better offensive line than anybody expected given the recent departures of Anthony Davis, Alex Boone, and even Mike Iupati not that long ago. It’s a unit that’s made up of one savvy veteran playing at a very high level — Joe Staley — and some young, promising players with high ceilings.
But it needs to be better, and it needs to be better soon. One of the important parts of Colin Kaepernick’s potential ability to once again become the franchise player the 49ers want is keeping him comfortable in the pocket.
One of the consistent aspects of Kaepernick’s struggles was a tendency to abandon the pocket, and therefore the play as a whole, the worse his line got.