Chris Foerster Says the 49ers Will Keep Dominick Puni at Right Guard

Making him play two positions his first two seasons in the NFL wouldn't be fair to him.

Sep 15, 2024; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; San Francisco 49ers guard Dominick Puni (77) looks on during the game against the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images / Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images

Offensive line coach Chris Foerster was asked about rookie Dominick Puni on Thursday. Here's what Foerster said, courtesy of the 49ers' p.r. department.

Q: OL Dominick Puni started every game this season for you, which is pretty rare for a rookie to do. Do you see him staying at right guard in his career or where do you see him kind of having success down the road?

FOERSTER: “We always saw him as a guard. When we drafted him, we kind of thought he'd be a guard. We started him over at the right side because we felt where [OL] Aaron [Banks] was and we talked at times, but then when [OL] Spencer [Burford] got hurt and he took over the right guard spot during training camp, he just excelled. And so I don't see him moving. There’d be no reason to move the guy. I've always had him in the back of my mind as potentially, a fourth tackle. But I don't think that's his best position. I do think guard is, and he's proven that. He's done a nice job there through the year. I just said it's been the longest year of his life. And I might have said it before, but I'll repeat myself because I'm old and I get that luxury. When you think about his season, it started his senior year of college, right? Whatever he did leading up to that, whatever they do in college, all their summer workouts. So whatever that was a year ago, July. Then as soon as his season's over, Draft prep and the Combine, then the Draft, then Rookie Mini Camp, then the 17-game season. And here he is, 18 months after he started his senior season at Kansas without really a break. The little bit of break in July that we get but for the rookies, it's not much. So he legitimately has hit a wall and not a bad wall from a standpoint of he's been playing terribly, but it was really hard to stay focused and he did it, which is why so many rookies don't start every game.”

Q: Puni said he was feeling physically pretty good, but he's emotionally a little tired?

FOERSTER: “It's just the emotion and that's what is. You have to stay on point to be sharp every week. There's no let up in the detail. It doesn't matter how talented you are, the details will get you if you're not on every little thing. Like the Rams game, there was some stuff they did that we talked about that I’m mad got him because we talked about it all week and it got us the first two passes and it was hard. Physically, I know during the season, t was funny, I said to him, ‘hey Dom, what do you do on the off day?’ He goes, ‘nothing coach.’ He said, ‘I come in on Monday after playing a full game. I throw some weights around the weight room and I feel great.’ I said, ‘well, that's not going to be the same in about three years.’ So I told him, ‘you need to start getting into routine.’ And he did. He started going to the regen. He started all the things you can do, the acupuncture, massage whatever they can do, with [director of functional performance] Elliot [Williams] stretching and things like that. And he did it all as the season went on. So I think he's young, so he probably isn't going to hurt a lot, but he does have that. He started a process of learning how to be a pro.”

Q: In your mind between left and right guard, do you want your best guard to be playing on the left side or does it not matter?

FOERSTER: “Don't think it matters that much. In the middle it doesn't matter as much. I don't think I'd switch if he were our best guard, say for example, in a year, if he’s our best guard, I'd still leave him on the right side. It doesn't really matter. Sometimes the right guard positions put a little more, sometimes you're naturally more of a right-handed team, which tends to be some ways you slide left more and the right guard's more one-on-ones. But that's random. That's a random comment. I don't know that would matter that much. Everybody says the tackles don't matter and they pay them like it doesn't matter because that's what the market says. That's just market value. Just because a Camry costs one thing and a Benz costs another, even if they were the same cost, one is still a Camry and one is still a Benz. It doesn't matter what the market says they're worth. If my back's to the quarterback, that matters to me. That is worth more that I can see this issue. I can't see. So that blindside theory, I don't want to get into that. That's a whole other discussion blindside. They had some issues with that, but yeah, blindside, I think it is the difference at tackle, guard.”

MY TAKE: The 49ers absolutely should keep Puni at right guard. Making him play two positions his first two seasons in the NFL wouldn't be fair to him. He has played well at right guard -- let him stay there and improve.

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