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The 49ers Should Start Jon Feliciano at Right Guard

Feliciano played well last week at left guard against the Jaguars -- better than Burford has played all season.
Grant Cohn|
The 49ers Should Start Jon Feliciano at Right Guard
The 49ers Should Start Jon Feliciano at Right Guard

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San Francisco 49ers

Jon Feliciano currently is filling in for injured left guard Aaron Banks who has turf toe. But when Banks returns, Feliciano shouldn't go back to the sideline. He should move to right guard, and Spencer Burford should move to the bench.

Feliciano played well last week at left guard against the Jaguars -- better than Burford has played all season. It's clear that Feliciano simply is a much stronger player than Burford, who's only 23-years old. Plus he played left tackle in college. Which means he switched sides AND moved inside, which is a lot to ask of a young player. Meanwhile, Burford has started at left guard, right guard and center in his NFL career. He fits those positions.

The 49ers hoped they could develop Burford into a quality guard, and they still might -- remember, he's extremely young. Last season, he split time with veteran guard Daniel Brunskill, who was much better than Burford. Frankly, Burford didn't deserve to play. But the 49ers thought giving him experience would lead to dramatic improvement in Year 2 of his career.

They were wrong.

Burford still looks and plays like a rookie who lacks the strength to deliver a blow against NFL defensive linemen. Feliciano is a much, much better run blocker right now. Starting Feliciano at right guard would make the 49ers' run game balance. Currently, it only works when it's going to the left.

The 49ers gave Burford lots of chances. But just like Drake Jackson on defense, Burford simply isn't ready to start on a Championship caliber team. 

Sorry, Spencer. It's just business.

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.

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