Center Weston Richburg figured to be a big part of the San Francisco 49ers' future when the team signed him as a free agent last March. This first season with the 49ers had its ups and downs. Often lost in the narrative is that he played through ongoing knee and quad injuries during 2018 and missed just one game.
Richburg's knee injury was sustained during a Week 4 contest against the Los Angeles Chargers.
General manager John Lynch told reporters on Thursday that Richburg recently underwent surgery to take care of the injury. The bad news is that the rehab will be extensive and likely last up to the start of training camp, which means Richburg will miss the remainder of the 49ers offseason program.
John Lynch said Weston Richburg had surgery on his knee after the season and also the quad. Said the rehab will be extensive and last right up to the start of training camp.
— Matt Barrows (@mattbarrows) January 24, 2019
"I think it affected his play late in the year," Lynch said via NBC Sports Bay Area. "He was having trouble anchoring. We decided to go in there and get the thing cleaned up. It's going to be an extensive rehab. He'll be right up until training camp. We feel comfortable that the end result is it will allow him to perform to the great ability that he does have."
Richburg signed a five-year deal last offseason worth up to $47.5 million. Head coach Kyle Shanahan discussed his center in December.
"I know he started off this year (2018) at an extremely high level," Shanahan said. "I thought he was doing as well in the run game and stuff at the beginning of the year as anyone I've had. Had a number of setbacks with his knee injury that he's battled through. I think he only missed one game because of it, which is a credit to him because it's been tough for him to practice for a lot of this time."
Another player who will spend most of the offseason rehabbing is safety D.J. Reed, who will have shoulder surgery on Friday for a labral tear. His rehab is estimated to last about six months.
Weston Richburg (knee and quad) and D.J. Reed (shoulder) will spend most of the offseason rehabbing from major surgeries, John Lynch said.
— Matt Maiocco (@MaioccoNBCS) January 24, 2019
Lynch revealed that the injury was a surprise during the safety's exit physical.
Reed, a rookie this past season, appeared in 15 games with two starts for San Francisco while registering 41 combined tackles, a sack, and a forced fumble.
Lynch also discussed quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo and running back Jerick McKinnon, who each suffered ACL injuries in 2018.
"Both of their rehabs are going exceptionally well," Lynch said. "Neither has had any setbacks in terms of swelling or anything like that. Jerick is six weeks ahead in terms of time frame. They're pushing each other. Jimmy is trying to catch him, and Jet is trying to separate. But they're really relying on each other, so that's a positive."
The comments mimic those the general manager provided to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network earlier in the week.