The 49ers last offseason didn’t do much to address the interior of their offensive line that lost starters at left guard and center. They also could’ve used an upgrade at right guard. Instead of searching for fixes in free agency, they stuck with in-house options and the draft, landing offensive lineman Spencer Burford from UTSA with the No. 134 overall selection. The versatile lineman wound up starting 16 games and all three playoff contests for San Francisco at right guard.
Burford’s presence with the first team at first appeared to be a product of former starting RG Daniel Brunskill working into the mix at center. Then Brunskill went down with an injury and the rookie never relinquished the starting job.
He had an up-and-down year and certainly left room for improvement going into his second season. Burford had a particularly tough time in the playoffs against two very good defensive fronts in Dallas and Philadelphia, and he wound up splitting time at RG with Brunskill who would rotate in for about half the snaps every game.
Burford allowed four sacks and 18 pressures as a pass blocker according to Pro Football Focus. He also received a well-below average 49.1 run blocking grade for the season from the football analytics site.
Struggles are to be expected from a rookie fourth-round pick along the offensive line. Especially when his college career was spent mostly at left and right tackle. He did make 11 starts at left guard as a sophomore and two at right guard during his freshman campaign, but for the most part he didn’t have a ton of experience on the interior.
Burford therefore had to make the transition from college to the pros while working in at the position where he had the least experience in an offense that requires a lot from its front. It wasn’t perfect, but it helped the 49ers solve a pretty significant problem on their offensive line. If he makes a jump in Year 2 and holds down the full-time starting RG job (and not the starting right tackle job), Burford could become the team’s best pick from this draft.
