The 49ers will sign center Weston Richburg to a five-year deal when free agency officially opens, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (Twitter link). NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport reports (via Twitter) that the deal is worth $47.5MM, with $28.5MM in guaranteed money ($16.5MM fully guaranteed).
Richburg only appeared in four games in 2017 while dealing with a concussion, but he’s been since been medically cleared. The 26-year-old offers 50 games of experience at the pivot, but teams were reportedly considering Richburg at guard, as well. Richburg, a former second-round pick, hasn’t played guard since his rookie campaign, but any added versatility could potentially give him more value.
PFR recently ranked Richburg as the No. 34 overall free agent on the board, and he was one of the best interior lineman available. At his position, Richburg competed with the likes of Ryan Jensen, Matt Slauson, and John Sullivan for free agent dollars. Richburg had reportedly drawn early interest from the crosstown Jets, who have a glaring need at center.
The 49ers inked veteran center Daniel Kilgore to an extension earlier this offseason, so it appears either he or Richburg will move to guard. San Francisco also has Laken Tomlinson and Zane Beadles on the interior of its offensive line, while Brandon Fusco — who played well on a one-year deal in 2018 — is an unrestricted free agent.
San Francisco is expected to be active during this year’s free agent period. Even after inking quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo to a five-year deal that contains a $37MM cap charge in 2018, the 49ers still had about $67MM in available cap space.
Lilttlen confused by this. We just gave out a nice extension to Kilgore and if we were going to go all out from Lineman I would’ve thought it would be Norwell. Don’t know a lot about this guy but hope this is a good signing. We need O Lone help bad but I hope we aren’t just singing someone to sign them
He was the Giants second best O-lineman behind Pugh, which doesn’t really sound like much but he was good when he was healthy.
Interested to see who the Giants plan on throwing out there on their O-line now lol. Its a weak free agency class for O-line help, #2 is too early to take an O-linemen, and they need more than one guy to fix their issues.
Ok, well that does give me hope I guess lol. I agree though, I don’t think the Giants can go O Line that early I’d be shocked if they didn’t go QB honestly. O Linemen are hard to come by so they gotta figure something out that’s for sure. I hope this guy works out for my 9ers. I’m guessing he goes to guard and Kilgore stays at center. We needed all the help we could get thats for sure
He’s okay, very dependable
-lifelong Giants fan
Good to know
I’m guessing regardless this is an upgrade to our line so I should be happy. Anyone who knows much about this guy know if he is a upgrade? Must be. Lynch is pretty smart and has made really good moves up until this point and this is the first actually signing of free agency since Sherman was before free agency.
I don’t get it but it’s too early and I haven’t had my coffee.
He’s alright. You won’t find too many stars in free agency but he has been solid when healthy. From a Giants fan. Whose team needs O linemen (and wish they had signed this guy).
He will more than likely move over to left guard.