One of the main weaknesses on the San Francisco 49ers coming into the 2023 season was the right side of the offensive line.
Right guard Spencer Burford was shuffled in and out throughout the games last season with Daniel Brunskill. This season the expectation that Kyle Shanahan and offensive line coach Chris Foerster had was that he was going to solidify himself as the indefinite starter. Well, he has failed to do that.
There hasn't been any facet in Burford's game for much of this season that he has excelled at. Because of his shortcomings, the 49ers have gone with veteran Jon Feliciano as the starter, and he has been holding it down incredibly well. All is not lost, however, for Burford. He still can recement himself back there, which is what Foerster broke down on Friday for how he can do that.
“The consistency factor is the number one thing," said Burford. "I mean, an offensive line play as the year goes on and the season gets longer and people see what you do and they see, as we talked about earlier in the year, you start developing a game. They see what your game is and they see what they can take advantage of. So as that happens, you have to play to a level of consistency.
"And with him, it's some physical consistency, but so much of it comes back to there's just a lot of parts to the offense and he knows it – it's just in the spur of the moment, in the game, sometimes it's not quite right and then all of a sudden you're a little bit off with your technique and then all of a sudden there's a play or two that just aren't what they need to be."
Burford needs to find his stride and fast. The 49ers have now replaced him for two consecutive seasons. And while he lasted longer as the starter this time, he is proving to be a replaceable player. The way Foerster explains this reminds me of how Mike McGlinchey would play. He wasn't constantly a poor player. For much of a game, he would be solid, but it was the key moments in a game that he would crumble.
"In the offensive line, sometimes consistency weighs out way over the big play," Foerster said. "You're like, yeah, you love the splash plays, but you have to see the consistency. And that's what's hard as an offensive lineman. It is a grind day in and day out week in and week out. Especially when I say you start establishing maybe some things that they see about you and things that they'll try and take advantage of, and you then have to counter. So it's just a consistency thing. He's played very good football for us. He's gotten better every single week and he continues to progress.”
The first step is for Burford to prove that if the 49ers start platooning him heavily again. If he fails to do so, then he will likely be replaced come the offseason.
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