The folks at Pro Football Focus have put together a look at team-by-team and player-by-player pass protection rankings (thanks to supraman and HUNGRY HUNTER for pointing it out). You can view their team pass protection rankings as well as player rankings by tackles, guards and centers and tight ends. PFF ranks the 49ers 26th overall and include Anthony Davis, Joe Staley, David Baas, and Vernon Davis in the bottom 15 of their respective positions. It's interesting to note that Barry Sims actually finished in the top 15 among tackles (15th)

As the team moves into 2011, how much will the new offense improve the pass blocking? PFF cited Anthony Davis as a big reason the pass blocking struggled, but obviously there were other question marks as well. I'm not sure how the new offense will affect the pass protection, but an efficient offense would generally seem to be enough to improve pass blocking. Although it's interesting to note that the Super Bowl runner-up Pittsburgh Steelers finished dead last in PFF's team rankings.

If we assume the 49ers re-sign David Baas, how do you see the line improving (or not) in 2011? Given the fact that Barry Sims has actually played fairly well in place of Joe Staley, does the team try and bring him back? I asked in the title whether there is much room for improvement in the offensive line and I mean that more in the sense of whether you think the talent is there or not to take a sizable step forward. Basically, what will we see from the 49ers offensive line in 2011?