One of the clearest reasons behind the 49ers’ 4-0 start has been the way their offensive line has held up, and held up in a big way.
Chris Foerster’s group has turned an area that’s taken plenty of criticism over the years into a real strength through four weeks. San Francisco hasn’t allowed a sack yet, becoming the first team to do that since the 2005 Indianapolis Colts.
Even more striking, the 49ers are sitting at a league-best 13 percent pressure rate allowed, according to Pro Football Reference. Last season, they were 10th in the NFL at 19.5 percent.
Some of this was expected. Trent Williams is still Trent Williams, and Colton McKivitz followed the best year of his career in 2025 by settling in as one of the better right tackles in the league. Brock Purdy’s movement and feel in the pocket have also helped keep the quarterback clean.
The real surprise has come inside.
Jake Brendel has often taken more heat than he deserved, but the bigger preseason concern was the guard spots. Dominick Puni played through lingering knee issues in 2025, and the 49ers did not appear to have a fully convincing answer next to Williams on the left side.
That’s where Connor Colby has stepped in and made the job his own. He can still be viewed as the weakest link in pass protection, but he has held his own and shown real value as a run blocker, especially when climbing to the second level on zone concepts.
Puni, meanwhile, has looked like the player the 49ers were excited about after his rookie season in 2024. Per Pro Football Focus, via Al Sacco, he has allowed four pressures in 231 pass-blocking snaps. With Puni back on track and Colby emerging, a unit that looked like a major question mark now looks much sturdier.
Now comes the real exam.
San Francisco heads north to face the Seahawks, whose front is built to wreck game plans. Seattle is fifth in the NFL in pressure rate at 30.9 percent, per PFR, and the group starts with Leonard Williams, Byron Murphy II and Jarran Reed inside, while Uchenna Nwosu, Demarcus Lawrence and Derick Hall provide edge pressure. That front has helped power a defense that ranks fourth in the league by EPA per play and second by success rate.
The Seahawks aren’t just a problem for quarterbacks, either. They’ve allowed a rushing success rate of only 30 percent, which ranks third-best in the NFL.
That means Puni and Colby are walking into a brutal assignment, both in pass protection and in the run game.
Kyle Shanahan didn’t sugarcoat it Wednesday when asked about Seattle’s interior line.
“They’re as good as it gets. Just individually, I think [Seattle Seahawks DL] Leonard Williams is second to none just in how good of a player he’s been here over the last few years and still is.
Then just how deep they are. There’s not one guy out there who’s not a good player.
They roll them, so they play like overachievers because of how hard they go. They play with their hair on fire, but they’re definitely more than that because they’re very talented.
It starts with Leonard, but down the line, even outside with [Seattle Seahawks LB DeMarcus] Lawrence, who’s been good for so long. They’ve got a real good group.”
The Broncos game preserved the 49ers’ no-sack streak, but Seattle is a much sharper test, and it comes in what will be San Francisco’s first true road game of the season. It’s hard to imagine the Seahawks being shut out entirely from getting to Purdy. The bigger question is whether the 49ers can keep the damage under control and give themselves a chance to win with an offense that can stand up to one of the league’s most punishing fronts.
In Other News...
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Still, the schedule is about to offer a better read on how real all that hype is. San Francisco has a Seattle test on deck, and later matchups with undefeated teams like the Vikings and Chiefs will add even more pressure to the conversation. For all the early admiration, the 49ers have not yet gone through the full stretch of games that usually separates a favorite from a true contender. [Read more 🡒]
Brock Purdy Is Entering A New Conversation 49ers Fans Will Love
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Purdys strong start to the 2026 season has him sitting among the leading MVP candidates, which is a remarkable place for a player who once entered the league with almost no draft-day fanfare. The more he stacks clean, composed performances, the more he seems to become a benchmark rather than a question, a standard other quarterbacks are measured against instead of the other way around. [Read more 🡒]