{"id":263364,"date":"2025-08-05T09:36:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T09:36:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/263364\/"},"modified":"2025-08-05T09:36:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T09:36:10","slug":"why-49ers-dominick-puni-believes-he-can-be-much-better-nbc-sports-bay-area-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/263364\/","title":{"rendered":"Why 49ers\u2019 Dominick Puni believes he can be \u2018much better\u2019 \u2013 NBC Sports Bay Area & California"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dominick Puni<\/a> can be hard on himself.<\/p>\n

That’s why the 49ers right guard told reporters he has plenty of room for growth entering his second NFL season, even after a\u00a0strong rookie campaign<\/a>\u00a0with San Francisco in 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I could be much better,\u201d Puni said Monday at 49ers training camp in Santa Clara. \u201cYou have a good year, and people see what they see. But if you\u2019re pretty hard on yourself — and [offensive line] coach [Chris Foerster<\/a>] is pretty good at being hard on us — you see a lot of what you can clean up. And that\u2019s what we did in the offseason.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s just so much better that can come out of my play. And so there can be a big jump, and I\u2019m ready to take it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following lengthy injuries to offensive linemen Jon Feliciano<\/a>, Spencer Burford<\/a> and Aaron Banks<\/a>, Puni started all 17 games<\/a> last season after San Francisco selected him with the No. 86 overall pick of the 2024 NFL Draft.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And the 25-year-old made them count.<\/p>\n

According to Pro Football Focus<\/a>, Puni ended his first season with the 11th-best overall grade (80.5) among all 136 eligible guards and the ninth-best run grade (81.5).<\/p>\n

But as Puni said himself, there are ways he can be better.\u00a0<\/p>\n

One of the 6-foot-5, 320-pound lineman\u2019s biggest priorities has been improving his strength and conditioning. Another is becoming a better pass blocker, as PFF had him as 40th of 136 guards with a 68.9 grade.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think number one was my body; I need to make sure that\u2019s in check at all times,\u201d Puni said. \u201cAnd be able to be as strong enough to play football while late in season. Number two: probably just my pass [protection] in general, 1-on-1s, winning the money down.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t really have much of a plan a lot of the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Puni played pretty well for a rookie who approached each snap without a foolproof strategy. Perhaps he\u2019ll be even better<\/a> after addressing what he considered areas for improvement.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think coming into this training camp, having a plan, knowing where I\u2019m going to throw my hands, what the defender is going to give me,\u201d Puni said. \u201cJust not sort of going out there and surviving. That\u2019s going to be the biggest difference for me this year. Really just those two things.\u201d<\/p>\n

His head coach, Kyle Shanahan<\/a>, is confident that Puni is capable of making strides as a second-year player. Shanahan made it clear that practices and games are two different things, though, and that it\u2019s up to the right guard to live up to expectations during the regular season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNot yet. It will tell as the year goes,\u201d Shanahan told reporters Monday when asked if Puni has shown he\u2019s ready for a leap. \u201cI mean, he jumped out the gate so fast last year because we had an injury to our starter and our backup within the first two practices. So, he got thrown in there right away, had a hell of a year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe’s doing a good job as usual, but right now we’re in the middle of camp. All those guys are pretty tired out there, but I always say you’re getting better or worse. So, I hope he takes a step forward this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Puni and the 49ers have until Sept. 7, when San Francisco opens the 2025 regular season at the Seattle Seahawks, to address their weak points.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If Puni has shown anything thus far, it\u2019s that he always answers the call.<\/p>\n

Download and follow the 49ers Talk Podcast<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dominick Puni can be hard on himself. That’s why the 49ers right guard told reporters he has plenty…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":263365,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2080],"tags":[220,13292,7,2812,6,1161,252,2624,2623],"class_list":{"0":"post-263364","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco-49ers","8":"tag-49ers","9":"tag-dominick-puni","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-kyle-shanahan","12":"tag-nfl","13":"tag-san-francisco","14":"tag-san-francisco-49ers","15":"tag-sanfrancisco","16":"tag-sanfrancisco49ers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114975485918568765","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=263364"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263364\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/263365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}