Weston Richburg (retired)

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:

Originally posted by Hoovtrain:

Not sure I follow the luck part. They endured a ton of key injuries along the OL this season and kept On plugging and chugging all the way to the SB. In regards to the C, can't really ask for much more from your backup C unless you want a top shelf starter as a backup, which isn't feasible. Now Does that mean the C/IOL should not be addressed/improved? Absolutely not

If Richburg was due to be back in a few months, I'd say that its less of an issue but with him out until well into next season under the very best circumstances, its clear that you can't just roll with Garland and some random. I'd like to see them address the position via the draft as there are several intriguing prospects that are a very good fit for this offense in particular as well as bringing in one or two low end free agents to compete for spots on the roster, either at center or guard. They've upgraded the roster significantly in a short amount of time but now they've got to build up the talent and depth on that interior OL.

Agreed. What are your thoughts on Ruiz from Michigan ? Could feasibly trade back and grab him in 2nd. He can play all interior positions at a high level as well

Originally posted by Hoovtrain:
Agreed. What are your thoughts on Ruiz from Michigan ? Could feasibly trade back and grab him in 2nd. He can play all interior positions at a high level as well

Ruiz, Hennessy, Biadasz, Cushenberry, there's some really nice options that would also work in this offense. Ruiz might have the best overall upside out of all of them. Jake Hansen and Nick Harris are late round possibilities if they wanted to double down or draft someone as a OG/OC. Then you have your sleepers like Luke Juriga from Western Michigan.

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:

Originally posted by Hoovtrain:

Agreed. What are your thoughts on Ruiz from Michigan ? Could feasibly trade back and grab him in 2nd. He can play all interior positions at a high level as well

Ruiz, Hennessy, Biadasz, Cushenberry, there's some really nice options that would also work in this offense. Ruiz might have the best overall upside out of all of them. Jake Hansen and Nick Harris are late round possibilities if they wanted to double down or draft someone as a OG/OC. Then you have your sleepers like Luke Juriga from Western Michigan.

i am starting to move past the grief stage and into the offseason excitement stage

Originally posted by Hoovtrain:

i am starting to move past the grief stage and into the offseason excitement stage

The nice thing about a guy like Ruiz is that you could start him off at guard while he develops and let him contribute while he develops and gains experience before moving him over to center. In comparison, guys like Hennessy and Harris are pure centers.

He needs to rework his contract to give Garland a share.

The combine is only 3 weeks away so we'll get to see some of the O line guys that we don't notice during the season.

Originally posted by CatchMaster80:
The combine is only 3 weeks away so we'll get to see some of the O line guys that we don't notice during the season.

The Senior Bowl was the best place for that, where you got to see linemen from various schools go 1 on 1 and get put through their paces by coaches. There's plenty of discussion and reviews online about who excelled, who struggled and so on. Usually guys who do really well at the Senior Bowl tend to end up as at least passable NFL players.

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:

Originally posted by okdkid:

Half of Garland's games were against legit top 5 DL. Impressive pass protection when compared to a significantly priced alternative!! The team could do better than Richburg or Garland. But dollar for dollar...Garland doing extremely well. Glad to see it.

Who were these legit Top 5 DL?

They played:

Falcons
Rams
Seahawks
Vikings
Packers
Chiefs

Vikings interior pass rush is basically non-existent. Jarran Reed was MIA for Seattle this year and Kenny Clark was inconsistent at best for Green Bay. The 49ers largely dominated the line of scrimmage in those games.

Outside of Donald who gets moved around a bunch, the two best individual linemen they faced in those games basically wrecked this offense.

I knew there were going to be issues when Jarrett singlehandledly blew up the interior OL in the Atlanta game. I was hoping that Jones would be limited by injury but apparently he was just healthy enough to wreck the interior as well. The 49ers got beat at the line of scrimmage in these two games.

And don't think that other teams aren't paying attention. For those like Minnesota and Arizona that already need interior help, seeing the 49ers struggles against an interior pass rush is just a little bit more motivation to improve in those areas. 49ers now will have a target on their backs and teams will be looking at that KC tape for pointers on how to limit the offense. Just as teams used the Patriots SB film against the Rams, teams will now be looking to expose the 49ers across the interior.

Unless the plan is for Garoppolo to throw only 8-10 times a game continually, it might make sense to upgrade the interior and be better able to handle those top notch interior DL's without Richburg in there so they don't wreck the entire gameplan.

Not every team has a guy as uniquely talented such as Jones or Jarrett but its clear that this is a major weakpoint for this offense, especially with Richburg out. Richburg is a proven top notch NFL pass protector, Garland is a career backup that has been dumped by several teams. The 49ers can and definitely should do better. Garland is fine as depth but has no business as a starter unless once again, the plan is to throw the football only 8 to 10 times a game. We saw what he does when the offense HAS to throw against an aggressive interior pass rush and it was not pretty.

Plus, it seems like there are far more quality IDL players coming into the league compared to ER. Adding just one to two quality ER's and you've got a dominant DL.

Originally posted by Hoovtrain:

Originally posted by NinerGM:

Originally posted by okdkid:

Originally posted by Mertonschickendance:

wonder how we would've handled Chris Jones if Weston was playing...what's the outlook for his injury btw? Last time heard its serious where players don't usually return all the way back....

He will likely begin explosive movements in June and should he ready for the season. I would expect they hold him out of TC however.

Recovery differs for everybody. But most feel 100% at 12 months. November in his case.

The team would crazy as in completely certifiable to count on him to come back at this stage. 49ers need a real upgrade strategy for internal OL versus hope and luck.

Where have I heard this before

You should listen to the football savant. LOL

Hell of a season though.

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:

Originally posted by CatchMaster80:
The combine is only 3 weeks away so we'll get to see some of the O line guys that we don't notice during the season.

The Senior Bowl was the best place for that, where you got to see linemen from various schools go 1 on 1 and get put through their paces by coaches. There's plenty of discussion and reviews online about who excelled, who struggled and so on. Usually guys who do really well at the Senior Bowl tend to end up as at least passable NFL players.

This can't be how its done. There's all22 tape from every season on these guys. Why would the senior bowl be make or break?

Originally posted by brodiebluebanaszak:

This can't be how its done. There's all22 tape from every season on these guys. Why would the senior bowl be make or break?

The Senior Bowl is the only real neutral field that you get to match up some top prospects from different levels of college football. That DT coming out of Bama going on 1 on 1 versus a guard from Boise...etc.


You get a whole week of practices to see how these guys do against some of their top peers without the benefit of supporting talent around them. You get to observe how these guys carry themselves and how well they take to NFL coaching. Its a tremendous evaluation tool for NFL teams.

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:

The OL turned out to be a lot better than most were expecting, by far...

So true. We knew coming into the season the run game would be their strength but they took that to a whole other level this year and added IZ, power, gap, traps, pulls, OZ, fly sweeps, end-arounds, and a dozen other variants. I think Kyle and Benton went into the lab last off season knowing they'd have both their QB and C coming into the season coming off major injuries and not a lot of 'proven' receiving weapons beyond Kittle, whom they knew, would be every defenses focal point after a record season. Couple that with Garoppolo's fastest time-to-throw and Kyle's ability to scheme PA off that running game and what a fantastic combination. It worked all year including in the Superbowl.

And the unknown depth turned out better than expected for sure.

Maybe this off season, using our stellar defensive line to sharpen them, Kyle builds up the passing game and refocuses the OL on pass protection (particularly in communication, rush recognition and interior PP).

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:

The Senior Bowl is the only real neutral field that you get to match up some top prospects from different levels of college football. That DT coming out of Bama going on 1 on 1 versus a guard from Boise...etc.


You get a whole week of practices to see how these guys do against some of their top peers without the benefit of supporting talent around them. You get to observe how these guys carry themselves and how well they take to NFL coaching. Its a tremendous evaluation tool for NFL teams.

Got it. Must be pretty serious on the practice field. Does each "team" practice with each other?

Originally posted by brodiebluebanaszak:

Got it. Must be pretty serious on the practice field. Does each "team" practice with each other?

You have North and South teams, both hold their own practices at separate times so scouts can attend both sessions. If a guy doesn't fit, it shows really quickly.

Originally posted by NCommand:

You should listen to the football savant. LOL

Hell of a season though.

Lol. You have fun in MIA?
'Twas. That's what made the SB loss sting so much
See my reply to GM. What else could/should they have done on the interior about Richburg? He came back better than 100% and Garland was everything you could ask for as a backup, but that's what he is, a backup. Now the one spot I think they could have addressed was Persons. But they seem to love him. Personally I would have kept Brunskill in, but they were rolling so I can see why they didn't .