San Francisco 49ers offensive line coach and run game coordinator Chris Foerster spoke to reporters on Thursday before the team's 13th training camp practice. Here is everything he said.
Transcript provided by the San Francisco 49ers Communications staff.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan told us the other day that probably not a lot of starters are going to be playing in this upcoming game, but what about somebody like OL Dominick Puni who has been working with the first string, but who needs experience?
"We haven't gone through the final. I know I've made my suggestions. I think most of the guys will play upfront, for a little bit anyway. I'm not sure what we'll do. There are a couple spots maybe that won't, but we'll look at it and see. And obviously Puni is going to play. I think he's going to play some extended time, in my opinion he should. But we'll make that evaluation as a staff and make sure, I'll make my recommendations, which I think he should play. I don't know how much that's going to end up being, but we'll take a good look at it and see. He needs some playing time. It'd be good for him to go against other people and it'll be great for him. All the guys. Really good."
You have three rookies here. You've watched some practice now, for a few weeks. What traits stand out about OL Jarrett Kingston, Puni and OL Drake Nugent?
"Everything is really good this year. I was talking with one of our scouts this morning and we were just discussing how these guys have all, they've kind of played out the way we thought. Puni obviously, maybe a little bit better from the fact at how much he's mentally picked up and able to step into this role right now and has done a good job. Although we saw that potential in him, obviously. The other two guys are about what we thought. Kingston, very athletic, quick, has the potential to move inside and play guard and center for us and has done that. He has to learn to anchor some things. All that showed up on his college tape. It's not a surprise it showed up here today. Same thing with Nugent. Tough, tenacious, hardnosed, good guy. More of a center than a guard, but has filled in, done a good job. So all the guys have kind of checked all the boxes that we kind of thought they had, and it's kind of cool to see that we didn't miss as far as that goes. What their potential is and all that, is still yet to be seen. But as far as the traits and things they had, we like all of them."
What do you want to see Saturday night that you haven't been able to see up to now, against each other?
"Good thing is, our defense does present different things, but we're familiar with our defense. Now you get a new defense, new set of challenges. You want to see how guys adjust on game day. You want to see if you can make some game, on sideline adjustments, see if they can go out, adjust and do it. See how they play against different people, different techniques. We won't be able to give them as much prep time. That's the disappointing thing. You're trying to evaluate these guys, and you don't give them the same prep time that you do during a season. You can't spend the whole week on Tennessee, and you don't even know who is going to be playing for them. So the guys have to be able to go out there and adjust to different techniques, different fundamentals, and then you just see how they do that."
Especially for the rookies, does it feel like they're kind of itching to go against some other people?
"I haven't felt that way. The young guys, I'm sure the older guys, well, the older guys don't love preseason games, but they do love the chance to go against other guys. It does get a little bit old, going against the same guys all the time. I really think that the young guys are just looking for whatever we ask them to do, they've been good. And I think it will be cool to see their journey. I remember my first preseason game when I was coaching and, and I wasn't playing, but I was coaching in Minnesota, and we played against the Cowboys in the old Dallas Stadium. And to me, it felt like it was the Super Bowl. I couldn't believe it was an NFL stadium and I quickly realized it was just a preseason game. But there's that initial moment where they're going to see another team and another uniform, a helmet they've seen on television or on Madden or wherever, forever. And it's been like, 'Wow, this is pretty cool.' And then it'll soon settle down to be a good game. But it'll be exciting for them. It is that first preseason game."
How much value do you think the preseason still has? I know that they cut time from four to three. There's talk of cutting it down to two or getting rid of it completely. How much value do you think the pre-season still has to these guys?
"I've always thought it has value. Again, I don't want to say old school, but I do think it has value. Obviously, you know the risk-reward playing starters, that you risk injury in a game that doesn't count. But as far as development of a player, going against other players competing against other players, having the opportunity to show what you can do against somebody else. You kind of get into a routine with guys, you kind of get to know the guy against you. That's important, that familiarity thing. Sometimes you see it happening within the course of a game. A guy becomes familiar with a player and so how we may start a game and how you end a game when you get used to a guy or he gets used to you can challenge you. And that's what's good for these guys, is to get different opponents, different looks, different things like that. It totally changes just the atmosphere of a game. It helps for the younger players, it gives them game rep experience that they wouldn't get. Now, it's not the same. You notice it tick up from preseason to season, obviously a big jump from the season to the postseason and then every week of the postseason, that intensity level goes up even more. The pressure, the stakes and all those things get bigger. But this is different than being out here. Even though the crowd at 4949 is pretty intense, it's not going to be quite like it is in Tennessee."
Two of your more experienced guys are OL Chris Hubbard and OL Brandon Parker. What have you seen out of them in camp and what do you need to see out of them in the preseason?
"We've seen what we need, I think, in camp. Obviously in the preseason, it'll be nice to see them go out and play in our system, because they haven't played in our system before. Seeing that transition will be good to see. But I think we've seen what they will be. There obviously could be a jump, maybe in positive or negative ways. But I don't think there will be. I think these guys are pretty tried and true vets we brought. They're fulfilling the role we brought them in for. They're kind of there to steady things if there would be something going wrong. You have some stable veteran backup type players there that are competing and doing a good job. Hopefully they'll be able to just keep doing the same."
Is Hubbard also more versatile? Could you move him inside if need be?
"I could. I don't see him doing that for us though. I think he's primarily a tackle, just after being with the guy for a little while here. I think he's primarily a tackle."
T Trent Williams continues to hold out. We know what kind of player he is. Does it concern you? What does he need to get ready for Week One versus the Jets and when in this process would you be concerned if he's not here?
"Every guy's different. I don't know. I'd have to talk to our strength and conditioning people to know the exact ramp up time that a guy needs to be ready to play in a regular season game. It is hard. Those 60 something plays you play that first week, I've stated that's the most tired I've ever seen NFL players is when they come to the sideline after the first drive of the first game. No matter how hard they've conditioned, no matter how hard they've trained, they've never competed, full speed competition which goes back to the question about a preseason game. That is more full speed competition than what you get out here. There's that snap to whistle all the way through the whistle, all the way from the snap to it. We always pull off. There's not tackling. There's that little bit left in practice that you don't go to the full speed and there's not that a hundred percent strain. There's strain, but each guy lets off a little bit to protect the team and everything else. So getting the guy ready for that, there's a level that that you have to go through practices. I don't know what the exact number is for any player. It doesn't matter whether it's Trent or any other player, you have to prepare properly. We found that in 2019, we came back, [Denver Broncos OL Mike] McGlinchey and [former NFL OL Joe] Staley came back from injuries the same week against Seattle. We played long, it was an overtime game against Seattle here. And boy we really found out with offensive linemen, it's different than receivers. For example, you can get a receiver and say, 'hey, we're going to run so many yards over the course of your rehab time to get their strength and conditioning back.' But it's really hard to get that drive on a player that hit and that total strain that you get as a lineman, that how do you measure that, getting them ready to play in a game. So after 30, 40 plays, both Joe and Mike were gassed. It was unbelievable to see how fast that you hit the wall and then fell off. So it became really imperative that we figured out how to train guys properly to come off injury and experience that push, pull and strain without risking them. It happened to Trent, might have been the Covid year. We played in LA and he was coming off of an injury and we were in the last drive, I think [former NFL K] Robbie [Gould] kicked the field goal to win the game. And he said, I don't know if he said, 'I barely made it through the drive about the beginning of the second half he said I was done.' There's that level of he'd come off injury where I think he practiced a little bit that week. We said, 'oh yeah, he'll be fine for the game because he practiced on Friday.' Well, there's more to it than that. I don't have the exact thing, but there's something to that strain, that push, that pull. No matter how many games you played in that you have to prep for it because even when you've done the full process, opening day is hard."
How long after opening day do you see them kind of hit their stride?
"It doesn't take long. It's amazing that by the next week it's pretty good. They've played a game. They kind of know what to expect. They're in great shape. I guess it's that last little get over the hump to try to finish it. It's not like you see it Week Two or Three. It's always amazed me that first series, that first game, if you have any plays. Obviously three and out, they're not very tired. But if you play well, you can get some."
How often does a guy in a preseason game surprise you completely? Is that something that happens all that often?
"It can happen. I tell you, it happens. It happened with [OL Aaron] Banks, not in the preseason, it happened in the regular season. He just was okay. He was doing well in camp, but then all of a sudden we started playing, in Chicago that year and then on after that. The energy he played with, the finish he played with, the consistency was just different than in practice. I think the grind of period, period, period after you don't come to the sideline and rest. You just go in and go in and go in and go in. And sometimes some guys don't weather that as well as in a game, you've got the energy of the stadium, you go play, you come over, your defense plays. There's just the whole feeling of a game. And so that can happen. Preseason games, it has too. I can't remember offhand guys, but there's always that guy that when you get in a competition, he just lights up. It's different. He can go full speed. He can dive over piles and things like that. So it's kind of fun to watch."
