49ers OL Coach Chris Foerster Evaluates Dominick Puni

"He's kind of been consistent throughout, the way he started camp and has continued to work every week."

Aug 13, 2023; Paradise, Nevada, USA; San Francisco 49ers offensive line coach Chris Foerster watches from the sidelines in the second half against the Las Vegas Raiders at Allegiant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

SANTA CLARA -- Offensive line coach Chris Foerster was asked to evaluate 49ers rookie guard Dominick Puni on Thursday. Here's what Foerster said, courtesy of the 49ers' p.r. department.

Q: What was your evaluation of OL Dominick Puni in the game?

FOERSTER: “Good. He's played well. He's kind of been consistent throughout, the way he started camp and has continued to work every week. He’s been a pretty consistent performer. Everything we saw him do in practice, he did in the game.”

Q: He pulled on that touchdown. That's something that you do a lot with OL Aaron Banks. Is he good at that?

FOERSTER: “He's good at it. There are some things about him, the move inside, there's some little things that he needs to work on. Pulling is going to be one of them. But he's done a really good job in everything, he's developing in all his areas. He's very diligent in studying and what to do next, listening and taking coaching. He's doing a nice job. But that is going to be something he has to work on.”

Q: You guys have, in the past, sometimes rotated guys at a position. What are the benefits of that for a young guy?

FOERSTER: “Oh, it's huge. I don't know how I decide to do it, but you can kind of tell. I even did it with [OL Jon] Feliciano, who I didn’t think Feliciano was going to play as much in the Green Bay game, in the playoffs. But also, I noticed I said [Green Bay Packers DL Kenny Clark] 97 was giving him some issues. So instead of getting in a routine of rushing Jon Feliciano, you put [OL Spencer] Burford in there, and the defender has to deal with a different guy. For young players, that was the sidelight. It can help anybody. For a young player, those plays start mounting up where you start doing some bad, you get out and just take a step away. It stops whatever is going on and you get to go back in and restart. That guy then has to deal with a different player. And over the course of time, usually what happens is you have a veteran player and a younger player. The younger player, you think has more talent. That's why you're alternating. He's just not quite ready to play 60 plays a game. And our position is one, like some other positions on the field, that defensive line, for example, you can get a rookie 20, 30, 40 plays because they rotate so much. That's what starters do. Offensive lineman, you can't, people think you shouldn't, I know you can do it. That's a great way to work a player in, just because he doesn't get exposed. Analytics, they would say every time we took him out, they were saying that was about the time his play was starting to do this [go down]. Now, I'm not saying I did it because of that. I kind of had, in my mind, two series, three series, but you can kind of feel that, and you talk to him on the side, you feel that things are getting a little loose. Let's bring him back over here and they stand for a minute, catch their breath and they can usually get back into a rhythm.”