49ers LG Battle - Robert Jones and Brett Toth
The 49ers have not retained either of their veteran guards from 2025, yet signed both Brett Toth and Robert Jones. Which one of the external veterans will win the starting job?
Ben Bartch was the Week 1 starter at LG in 2025, but was banged up throughout the season and ended up starting just two games. Spencer Burford took over once he was healthy and started 9 games at LG, and the other 6 were started by 2025 7th round pick Connor Colby.
Burford is now on the Raiders, and Bartch has now officially signed with Detroit, after a visit with the Lions. And Colby, well he did not perform too well in his starts.
So, is this it? The LG competition is down to Toth, Jones, and Colby? I would say that is a likely possibility.
The 49ers offensive line currently looks as such(career starts):
OT - Trent Williams(203) / Colton McKivitz(56) - Austen Pleasants(2) / Vederian Lowe(25)
OG - Robert Jones(30) / Dominick Puni(34) - Connor Colby(6) / Brett Toth(6) / Nick Zakelj(2)
C - Jake Brendel(69) - Drake Nugent(0)
Toth, and Zakelj, have experience at Center, with Toth having a pair of starts at the position.
And while all of free agent signing Vederian Lowe's career starts have come at OT, I believe he also has inside ability.
The depth looks fairly good all of a sudden, but a draft pick is still possible, with Brendel, Jones, Toth, Zakelj, Pleasants, and technically Trent Williams, all being free agents after the 2026 season.
I wouldn't be surprised to see the 49ers spend a mid-round pick, whether one of their 4th rounders or trading up into the 3rd round, on an offensive lineman. I would expect it to be on a prospect that has "versatility." The 49ers tackle depth is great, but like I mentioned, Lowe could play inside as well.
Personally, I would love a prospect that has the ability to play center. I am confident Williams will be extended at least through 2027, but there's a good chance Brendel's tenure is done after this season, as he will be 35 for the 2027 season. Duke's Brian Parker II fits the bill, a player who has experience at all OL spots, he projects as a future center.
But as it stands now, it seems either Robert Jones or Brett Toth will be the 49ers LG headed into the 2026 season. Let's break down each player.
DISCLAIMER:
I am not an offensive line guru nor evaluator! I could be wrong on a certain assignment, or missed what was a positive for a player. This is not gospel!
But please continue reading, as it is a good breakdown!
Rob Jones was undrafted in 2021 out of Middle Tennessee State University, ending up there after starting at a JUCO. He had a fairly athletic draft profile, via mockdraftable.com.
Some things that stood out:
A massive wingspan at 82 inches, as well as long arms for a guard, at 33 3/8 inches. His 20 yard split was 89th percentile, with his vertical jump being 83rd.
Fun fact, the most similar athletic profile to Jones over the last decade+ was current 49ers guard Dominick Puni!
The bigger, 320lb Jones played both guard spots in college, but has sided on the left in the NFL. He played under former 49ers OC Mike McDaniel for 3 seasons in Miami, including starting 17 games in 2024.
Last offseason, he signed with Dallas, but broke a bone in his neck in the offseason, sidelining him for the entire season.
I watched 3 games from 2024 of Jones; Week 1 against Jacksonville, Week 9 against Buffalo, and Week 15 against Houston.
Here is a cut-up of some of the good stuff with Jones from those performances.
The Good:
While not identical, Jones has familiarity with Kyle Shanahan's scheme when he played 3 seasons with McDaniel.
Jones has a wicked first get off step when the ball is snapped.
He gets to his spot in the run game, especially when pulling or moving laterally, quite quickly, in large part to that first step.
Along with getting to his spot quickly, Jones knows where to be. He can head the right direction when run blocking in space. And in pass protection, he's aware enough to offer good support to his LT when Jones doesn't have an assignment himself.
Jones is not an overpowering mauler, but he uses his body well to create a lane for the ballcarrier. Again, his first step helps here. When he needs to get across the defensive lineman's face, that first step gets him there and allows him to operate accordingly.
The Bad:
Jones' base can often appear weak in pass protection, likely because he is so upright in his stance.
He'll often reach and just try to use his upper body strength in pass pro, allowing himself to get pushed off balance.
In the run game, I mentioned how he gets to his spot so well. But he often loses what I'll call the leverage battle. He knows where to be and gets there fast, but often linebackers and safeties are able to avoid the block because Jones comes in so upright. The defenders often just get low and slide around him. Or if not getting around him, Jones reaches his assignment but doesn't finish him off, and the defender can get back into the play. You're 320lbs, you should be finishing blocks on guys under 230!
Jones had 7 penalties called against him, all holds. This actually isn't that bad, and a few of them weren't really his fault. He had his assignment and the QB bailed from the pocket, and Jones didn't let go soon enough. And in my opinion, they were minimal enough to not even warrant a call.
All in all, I was fairly impressed with Jones. At least considering the fact that he was signed for a smaller contract two weeks into the free agency period.
There was a lot of good things. It obviously was far from perfect, but again, for a guy they picked up off the street, this is an intriguing starting option. Especially when you take in to account that he would be playing next to Trent Williams.
Now onto Toth.
Brett Toth was also undrafted, out of Army, in 2018.
Originally signed by Philadelphia, he was cut after being on the practice squad and signed with Arizona, where he lasted with no action until the middle of 2020, when he returned to Philly.
He bounced between active roster to practice squad, including getting signed to Carolina, where he started a game. He returned to Philly again, and again the practice squad, in 2024, before finally making the 53 man roster this past season.
Toth played 363 snaps this season, by far a career high. He notched 199 of those at LG, with the remaining 164 at C.
With all this bouncing around, Toth has played for a variety of offensive coordinators. None of them, however, truly resemble the "Shanahan" scheme.
OCs of note: Kliff Kingsbury, Shane Steichen, Kellen Moore, Kevin Patullo.
Many of these value an emphasis on quarterback running, and that doesn't really exist for the 49ers.
Toth's calling card is his center/guard versatility while being 6'6 with solid arm length (33 3/8inches).
I watched 3 games of Toth at LG from the 2025 season; Week 4 against Denver, Week 5 against New York, and Week 18 against Washington.
Here is a cut-up of some of the good stuff from those performances.
The Good:
Pass protection. Pretty much everything about it. Might come from his days at tackle in college.
Hand placement is fairly great. Like I said, I'm not an OL expert. But Toth seems to always know where to punch, and he's always punching first. Rarely does the defensive lineman get hands on Toth first. The few times he is pulling in the run game, the same thing exists. He's landing his hands on the defender so they can't slip him.
Along with the pass protection, Toth's base and anchor is ridiculously strong. He really does have good hand placement and has the ability to sink his hips and get his feet into the ground. It shows up multiple times on the cut-up.
Has fairly fluid hips. Not necessarily explosive, but almost looks like he's moving like a DB doing a drill. When he's moving in space, it's really evident as he climbs to the 2nd level. Toth really does get to the 2nd level well, but it's almost unorthodox, at least after watching Robert Jones. There's no explosion or rush. It almost a literal climb.
The Bad:
Not really dominant in the run game. Partially because of what he was asked to do. Rarely pulls, rarely asked to cross a defenders face and seal him off. And when he does have to seal a defender off or be dominant right off the get-off, it's not the best. Not bad, but not ideal.
Similar to the point above. Maybe it's because he didn't do it often. But Toth doesn't exactly move defenders in the run game, at least on the DL. He's rarely truly driving his feet, but again, maybe that's because of what he was asked to do, and the fact that he was barely moving upfield or laterally when run blocking.
Toth has not played in a scheme that's really close to Shanahan's. Does this matter? I guess we'll find out.
The Eagles offense was very plain. It was exclusively out of shotgun, the run game was bland, and although Toth had dozens of great pass pro reps, there were so many basic double teams with the center because of the simple shotgun offense.
This made evaluating Toth in the run game difficult. He rarely pulled, there was no reps that forced him to demonstrate explosiveness, and he barely was even asked to seal guys off.
It felt like well over half the run blocking reps were either draw type plays, where you guide the defender upfield, or plays where Toth freely floated to the 2nd level.
Toth definitely isn't the typical 49ers guard that I am used to watching. Apparently elite in pass protection, and not explosive in the run game. But I am highly interested, and it's clear why the 49ers signed him, especially with that versatility at center.
All in all, this was a tough evaluation and comparison.
Like I mentioned with Jones, neither of these guys are premier players, so the film is not perfect. These are players with flaws, hence why they were available at their price points. But it just makes them easier to critique, but harder to choose between.
It felt obvious that Toth is the better, stronger, and firmer(?) pass protector. But Toth and Jones held wildly different responsibilities.
Rob Jones was in a Shanahan type scheme, but Mike McDaniel ran far more outside tosses and had a more diverse screen game, building the offense specifically to support Tua Tagovailoa and the speed that Miami's offense possessed.
Lots of lateral movement for the guards, and very few true pass pro sets.
Meanwhile, Toth was rarely asked to pull or block on screens, at least not to the extent Jones was, or Toth will be in the 49ers offense. As mentioned, the offense was all shotgun, so the pass protection was a bunch of combos and double teams on the interior. It was so seemingly simple.
These two interior offensive linemen are coming from completely opposite sides of the offensive scheme spectrum.
To conclude...I believe Brett Toth is the better player.
However, this is heavily skewed because of Toth's pass protection. He was asked to do it more, and was more impressive. 49ers fans likely aren't used to that out of the guard position.
But Robert Jones reminds me much more of guards I've watched on the 49ers in the past. Maybe that's just because he was doing similar things, but I believe it's still true.
His explosion and aggressiveness will be welcomed in San Francisco
Now, while I believe both players will have a chance to be the starting LG, there's a chance the 49ers prefer Toth as a center, and signed him as a versatile backup option along the interior.
I watched very few snaps of Toth at center, because I wanted to compare the two players as equally as possible, so I could not voice my opinion here.
I think the things that Brett Toth "lacks" really just appeared as such because of the offense he played in. He will be able to pull, and I think he is more successful at actually connecting on blocks at the second level, although it was a smaller sample size.
Now, how quickly will Toth adjust to new responsibilities? I can't really say.
It's for this reason that I believe it will be a true open competition in training camp between the two. Jones has familiarity and more experience, but I do believe Toth is a better player, and I would predict that he wins the LG job.
And I do really believe the idea that Toth having flexibility at center could give the edge to Jones, with the idea that the 49ers want to keep their backup center healthy. The draft could impact this thought process as well.
But we will find out in due time!
Thanks for reading through this breakdown, my first player comparison article! Follow @GridironGoldM_ on twitter to keep up with articles and see other breakdowns that don't get written in articles! Also feel free to request a player breakdown!
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