FanHouse ChiloRachal

Training camp is finally here and FanHouse breaks down the most important position battles heading into the season, team by team.

Forget what you hear about there being a battle at quarterback for the 49ers. Alex Smith will be under center when the season begins, and it doesn't matter how 49ers fans feel about it.

That being said, right guard is truly a competition. There wouldn't be if 2005 second-rounder David Baas wasn't recovering from torn pectoral muscles. But Baas' pectorals are, in fact, torn, and it's doubtful (though possible) he'll be ready for the beginning of the season.

So veteran Tony Wragge will compete with rookie Chilo Rachal for the right to start for at least the season's first game. Rachal is the more talented of the linemen, and the 49ers invested a second round pick in him this year, but Mike Nolan has admitted that it'd be tough for a rookie to win a starting job on the line right away. Still, the 49ers briefly tried Rachal at right tackle, so they're obviously looking at him to play sooner than later. It's possible a strong camp wins him the job.

And depending on the performance of whoever's been holding the fort, as well as the team in general, Baas might have to fight to get his job back. Offensive lines thrive on continuity, and if the team's offense finds a groove (for the first time in forever), it might be tough for Nolan to make a switch.

Of course, assuming the 49ers offense will find a groove is getting far ahead of myself.

I don't know Chilo Rachal. He might be a very nice man. Everything I've heard about him as a football player has been positive. But through no fault of his own, he represents everything that's gone wrong with the 49ers over the last few years.

Rachal was a guard in college, and the 49ers made him their second pick despite having a more urgent need at tackle. The thinking was that Rachal would be converted there, but there's one problem -- the 49ers' various decision-makers are at odds over the switch.

Now, this is a pretty big decision for the current state of the team -- a lot of jobs are riding on this season, and as last year proved a lot of the team's success will be riding on the offensive line. You'd have thought that the position would have been a priority this offseason. You'd have also thought that with the ramifications involved in getting this ship righted, the people responsible would at least be able to agree on a course of action. But no. Communication (or mis-, as the case may be), poor planning, and a lack of competent leadership have been the team's downfall since Steve Mariucci left.

And though, yes, Jonas Jennings is penciled in as the starter on the right line (making this all seemingly moot), there's no doubt that the guy who has missed 27 games in the last three seasons will need to be replaced at some point this season, if not from Week 1. The team's interest in Barry Sims indicates that the Rachal experiment isn't going well, making the dissension even more ludicrous and leaving the 49ers yet again holding their ... you know.

A look at the 2007 junior class as players decide whether to enter the 2008 NFL draft.

One of the things we're not usually privy to when a college player leaves school early to enter the NFL draft is whether the player had some kind of overriding family concern. But with USC guard Chilo Rachal, whose father told the Los Angeles Times he's turning pro, we do know that it's a family decision: His mom has a stomach tumor, and he says he wants to be able to support her.

I think it's the right decision from a football perspective, too. He's already got an NFL body (listed at 6-foot-5 and 315 pounds), and although I don't think he's a first-day prospect, I don't think he would be in 2009, either.

Rachal is a good player, but not a dominant player, and for a guard to go on the first day of the draft, he has to be dominant. There are also concerns about injuries (he missed three games in 2007 with a knee injury), but those are more likely to get worse than better if he returns to school. Leaving now is the right move.

See the full list of 2008 NFL draft early entries.