All 49ers

Will Spencer Burford Start at Left Guard for the 49ers in 2025?

The job is wide open.
Grant Cohn|
Sep 9, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers offensive tackle Spencer Burford (74) after defeating the New York Jets at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images
Sep 9, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers offensive tackle Spencer Burford (74) after defeating the New York Jets at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images | Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

In this story:

San Francisco 49ers

Apparently, the 49ers didn't think much of Aaron Banks.

He was their starting left guard for the past three seasons. In March, he signed a four-year, $77 million contract with the Green Bay Packers, and the 49ers didn't make a serious attempt to replace him. Instead, they resigned his backup, Ben Bartch, to a one-year deal worth roughly $1.2 million, and drafted Iowa guard Connor Colby in Round 7.

So it will be interesting to see who takes the first-string reps at left guard when OTAs begin this week.

The candidates will be Bartch, Colby, Spencer Burford and Nick Zakelj. Based purely on salaries and experience, I'm guessing Burford will get the first opportunity to start.

The 49ers drafted Burford in 2022, and he started 29 games at right guard in 2022 and 2023. Most of the time, he struggled, but he was the youngest player on the offensive line. He still is just 24. And his base salary is $3.4 million this season. I'm guessing the 49ers will want to get their money's worth from him before he hits free agency next year.

Last season, Burford injured his hand during training camp and lost his starting job to Dominick Puni, a rookie who had an outstanding season. Now, Burford is the most experienced guard on the team.

Bartch has started 22 games in his career, but he hasn't started more than 5 games in a season without getting injured since 2021. If he stays healthy, he could be an upgrade over Burford, but Bartch hasn't shown that he can stay healthy for long stretches in the NFL.

Meanwhile, Zakelj has started just two games in his three-season career. Granted, those two starts came last season at left guard. He has as good of a chance to start as anyone.

The job is wide open.

Read more

Published
Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

Share on XFollow grantcohn
Home/News