Richburg, healthy and ready for year six in NFL

Bushland graduate and San Francisco 49ers center Weston Richburg begins his sixth NFL season Sunday. [photo credit: 49ers.com]

Richburg’s profile

High School: Bushland

College: Colorado State

Position: C/ G

Height-Weight: 6-foot-4, 295.

NFL experience: Sixth season

Career NFL games: 66.

Career NFL starts:65.

Note: Richburg was a second round (43rd pick) selection by the New York Giants in the 2014 NFL Draft.

It was a difficult first year with the San Francisco 49ers for Weston Richburg.

Richburg signed a five-year, $48 million contract with the organization to be the new center for a team full of promise in March of 2018. Unfortunately for the former New York Giant, things didn’t quite go as planned.

San Francisco was hit by the injury bug, sputtering to a woeful 4-12 record. Richburg started in 15 of those game, playing through his own pain.

At the beginning of the offseason, the Bushland graduate and six-year NFL pro, found out he had to have surgery to re-attach a partially torn quadricep tendon.

The injury put Richburg on the shelf for nine months, before being activated off the physically unable to perform (PUP) list last Thursday. Despite the setback, Richburg is expected to start Sunday’s season opener against Tampa Bay at 3:25 p.m.

The veteran lineman, who was the 43rd pick in the second round of the NFL Draft by the New York Giants in 2014, has played in 66 career NFL games, making 65 career starts.

Richburg took time out of his busy schedule to chat with Press Pass Sports on recovering from injury, what 2019 holds for him and what he’s learned in the NFL.

Richburg, left, started in 15 games for the San Francisco 49ers last season. [photo credit: 49ers.com]

You mind walking us through your offseason, and what all the injury entailed?

”When I went in for surgery I didn’t know it was going to be for a quad tendon surgery. I then rehabbed from January to August, and we didn’t get to do what we planned in the offseason. Luckily I was surrounded by a lot of good people during rehab, and I’m back to playing.”

How does it feel to be back, and how are you feeling overall?

“I’m feeling really good. I didn’t like sitting out and watching other dudes play. It feels really good to be back out there. Now we’re in game-plan mode, so it’s business again.”

It seemed like the entire 49ers roster was banged up last year. Is everyone healthy this year and ready to go?

“We have a lot of good players on this team. We have a lot of guys coming back from injury as well. We still don’t have a running back, but we did add some depth on the defensive line so we have a chance to be exciting.”

What was your first year like with the 49ers?

“It was good. I really like this organization. It’s run well from top to bottom, and I have a lot of friends here. It’s kind of weird to say I had fun even though it was an unsuccessful season. That’s a credit to the dudes we have, we’d go to work each day and have fun playing football. That makes me excited for when we start winning.”

What kind of offensive mind is coach Kyle Shanahan?

“He definitely knows what he’s doing. He does an excellent job of explaining it all, and he has coaches that give us the why. Anyone can go out and run plays no reason but it helps when you know why we’re doing it. He’s a great communicator and uses the guys we have in unique ways to score a lot of points.”

So what did you do in your spare time while you rehabbed?

“I started playing guitar again. I played in high school when I had my other knee injury. I have an electric guitar, so I got back into playing a little Metallica.”

Did you get hooked on any Netflix shows? “

”Oh yea. “My wife (Marlee) and I watched Stranger Things in less than a week. I watched QB1, Marlee didn’t like it. I also watched Last Chance U.”