49ers Rookie Guard Connor Colby Could Start Week 1 After Dominick Puni Injury

49ers rookie guard Connor Colby could start Week 1 after Dominick Puni injury originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SANTA CLARA — When presumptive starting left guard Ben Bartch sustained an elbow injury last week, it was rookie Connor Colby who replaced him.

And after right guard Dominick Puni sustained a knee injury that places his Week 1 availability in question, the 49ers’ move was to shift Colby to fill that void along the team’s first team.

If Puni is not back for the season opener, Colby appears to be the team’s first choice to start in his place.

Colby said shifting back to right guard, where he started 26 games over his final two seasons at Iowa, did not require too much of an adjustment.

“Early on, when I got out here, it probably would’ve been tough going from right to left or left to right,” Colby told NBC Sports Bay Area. “But I think now I know what they’re looking for.

“It’s not as hard to switch positions anymore because I’ve played right guard before and I got a lot of reps at left guard early on in camp. And now switching back to right, it feels like home over there.”

Offensive line was among the 49ers’ top needs entering the 2025 NFL Draft. However, the 49ers selected nine players — including a quarterback who underwent ACL surgery in January — before they addressed the offensive line.

Colby, a first-team All-Big Ten Conference selection, was the call when the 49ers selected at No. 249 overall.

He had never met George Kittle, who concluded his Iowa career in 2016. But Colby received a text from the 49ers’ six-time Pro Bowl tight end shortly after he was drafted.

Now, it is possible that both Hawkeyes could be in the starting lineup when the 49ers open the regular season on Sept. 7 at the Seattle Seahawks.

Colby is not even allowing himself to consider that possibility at this point, he said. He does not want to get too far ahead of himself.

When asked about his priorities as the 49ers approach the final preseason game of the summer, Colby answered, “Making as many improvements as I can in this time we have now.

“That’s the biggest thing for anyone, just trying to make as much progress and be as ready as possible for when your number is called.”

Although the 49ers waited until the seventh round to select Colby, they appeared to get great value with a player who fits perfectly into their system.

The 49ers place a premium on their offensive linemen being agile and athletic. Colby (6-foot-5, 309 pounds) topped out at 19.31 mph while running the 40-yard dash in 5.11 seconds at the NFL Scouting Combine.

“The cool thing about O-linemen is they just gradually get better each day as they learn what we’re asking,” 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said last week. 

“It’s always different techniques. You never have a guy come out of college who is going to have to run as much as we ask him to. So that always takes a number of days, sometimes a number of years. But I think he’s improved a lot here in these last couple weeks.”

Colby has shown himself to be a quick study as he adjusts to the 49ers’ style of run-blocking.

“I think just running off the ball is the biggest thing,” he said. “In college, I had a tendency to square up every block, and that’s not what they’re looking for here. In the pass game, I just try to use my hands as efficiently as possible.

“I don’t know if I’m the strongest guy out on the field, but if you tell me to run on an angle, I can do that pretty well.”

Download and follow the 49ers Talk Podcast