Why the 49ers Don't Like to Draft Offensive Linemen Early

"Invest in guys that touch the ball, guys that can touch the ball and score touchdowns."

September 18, 2022; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers offensive line/run game coordinator Chris Foerster before the game against the Seattle Seahawks at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports / Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

SANTA CLARA -- Most analysts agreed that the 49ers' biggest need this offseason was on the offensive line and that their biggest area of strength is at wide receiver.

So, of course the 49ers spent their first-round pick on another wide receiver.

On Wednesday, offensive line coach and run-game coordinator Chris Foerster explained why the 49ers prefer not to take offensive linemen early in the NFL Draft.

FOERSTER: "This is my personal opinion, if they ask me, invest in guys that touch the ball, guys that can touch the ball and score touchdowns. And then there's a range of guys, second, third, fourth round, fifth round even, that we will find starting offensive linemen in. At some point can you draft them? Yeah, you draft [OL] Trent Williams. You pick a draft where you're getting a difference maker. But there's guys that can make a difference, that touch the ball, well into the second, third, fourth rounds, or second and third rounds, at least. And definitely in the first round. That guy that touches the ball, it makes a huge difference in the game. The right guard makes a difference, we've talked about it before, but that's where we're able to find fourth and fifth round draft picks. How dominant is the difference between pick 34 versus pick 54, in offensive line play? And that's what you're trying to balance all the time. So, will we draft the best available player, all those types of things? Definitely will. And were we possibly ready to draft guys higher in the draft? Yes. But if there's somebody that can touch the ball and make plays, in my opinion, if you ask me, ‘Chris, do you want him?’ I want the guy that touches the ball, for me. Because I think we can develop those players much more readily and have developed those players through the times because we do have specific things that we're looking for. We know what we're looking for through the course of time. That's the advantage of being together with Kyle for so long that we kind of can pigeonhole these guys. Are we always right? Heck no, we're not always right and nobody is on anything. Could you put five first rounders across the front? I don't know that we have to, to have success. And it hasn't been that case as far as running the football and protecting the quarterback. We don't have five first rounders, so there's always going to be that. But, the fact that you can throw a short pass to [WR] Deebo [Samuel], even though the right tackle's getting beat, it ends up being a 60-yard touchdown. So yeah, the right tackle blocks somebody, but if the guy gets tackled at five yards, you don't have the 60-yard touchdown. ‘Boy that right tackle did a great job.’ What's it matter if the guy touching the ball can't take it to the house? So, there's the trade off and you're constantly playing that game."

Q: How much of that belief, for you, is kind of rooted in the system? And also how much is just rooted in the fact that you've been doing this a long time?

FOERSTER: "I’m telling you, I did it when I got to Baltimore. A good friend of mine, Jed Fisch, who is the head coach at the University of Washington now, he and I were talking, and he was a quality control guy in Baltimore. New England was, this was mid 2004 or 2005 whatever it was, they were the rage. And I said, ‘Go watch that offensive line and just tell me how good they are.’ And he started looking at it, he goes, ‘My gosh, he just put five X’s on the board, nondescript circled them and said, it doesn't matter who those five are, as long as [Former New England Patriots QB Tom Brady] 12 is the quarterback, and he’s throwing it to [Former New England Patriots WR] Randy Moss, [Former New England Patriots WR] Wes Walker and those guys, [Former New England Patriots WR Julian] Edelman,’ he says ‘it doesn't matter.’ And it didn't. You just saw that they did an excellent job. [Former New England Patriots Offensive Line and Assistant Head Coach] Dante [Scarnecchia] did a great job of coaching them. They had a system that they believed in, and they got the ball to the people that could do things with the football. And he's like, ‘I get it.’ Now, there's a line, and this is what I always say with offensive line play, and this is a cool discussion, I love this discussion, there's a line below which that with offensive line play that if you just drop a little bit below it, it’s a gaping hole. All of a sudden, you're like, ‘He can't block anybody.’ And now we got a major problem. But as long as they're at that line and just above it, you can survive it and you can take care of them. We've got ways with our system. We can chip, we can do all sorts of things to help guys. Slide lines, double team, the best rusher on the team. There are so many mechanisms to help alignment. If a guy can't get open, if a guy can't catch the ball and run, that's where we have a problem. But in offensive line play, you have to be careful. You have to have those 6, 7, 8 guys that are just at that line or above. And that's the challenge. Where's that line in the draft? Is it the third round, second round, fourth round, fifth? When's that line where all of a sudden, the tackles have dried up, the guards have dried up? Now you're talking about drafting backup players, which is fine, they're backup players. But they're not going to be long-term starters for your team. And that's the challenge for me. Because eventually the guys that can run and score touchdowns run out. They're not there anymore. So, you have to fight those quality starters at other positions. And you have to be right, because oftentimes when you draft a lineman in the fourth or fifth round, there might be a guy that could come in immediately and contribute on special teams, contribute and be a backup linebacker, safety. And that's where, so you say, 'Okay, we didn't drive him first or second. We got to take somebody in the fourth round here because I got five guys, got five holes to fill.'"