Ted Robinson, the voice of the San Francisco 49ers, joined Chad, Joe & Lo on 95.7 The Game to discuss the team and tonight's preseason match-up against the Green Bay Packers.
Robinson was asked which positional groups he was most confident in and which he was least confident in. One group that he is most encouraged by and feels has vastly improved over last season is the offensive line. "I think that's the position that has the chance to be most improved," said Robinson. "Between Anthony Davis' return and I think – we talked about this near the end of last year that that was a projection. If Anthony Davis came back, you would see him at guard with [Trent Brown] at tackle and I think that's what's going to happen.
"And then at left guard, does Joshua Garnett from Stanford progress fast enough in camp to take the job or does Zane Beadles start there? Either way, you're better off there and [Daniel Kilgore]'s healthy at center, which was a problem the first half of last year. So, that is the position that I think is – the one to me that has the most improvement."
Regarding the position that he was least confident in, he pointed to the wide receiver group. "For some reason, this position has been the black hole for the 49ers since I've been on this job is wide receiver," said Robinson. "I'm still waiting to see that Quinton Patton makes that jump. That Bruce Ellington makes that jump. [Eric Rogers] from the CFL got hurt so he's not going to be there, but you need to have a couple of people that have been around here for a while, like the two guys that I mentioned, make that jump. And of course that's connected to the quarterback play."
Robinson also discussed running back Carlos Hyde and if he is a top-tier player at his position if he can stay healthy. "Sure," answered Robinson. "And there's your 'if' right there, right? Because we all saw last year – look, he dominated the game, right? Against Minnesota in Week 1 – dominated the game. And then the 49ers went to Pittsburgh in Week 2 and the Steelers kind of targeted him and the safety that used to play for the Raiders took a cheap shot at him. And thankfully he got up from that, but that started a trend where teams really battered him for about two or three weeks and his foot gave way and he couldn't play.
"So, the reality is, this is a guy that's going to be a focal point for the 49ers. After determining the quarterback, this is the next most important player on the offensive side. He has to stay on the field and I think everyone – given the style that Carlos has displayed as a runner – everyone's holding their breathe to see ... can you give him 14, 16 games."
"I watched Frank Gore for six years," continued Robinson. "So I probably saw him carry the ball 12 hundred to 14 hundred times over six years in person and I can count on one hand the number of big hits I saw Frank take. He was remarkable at avoiding the big hits, the crushing hits, and that's where Carlos Hyde has to learn. He can't run to contact which is what he did last year."