Chris Foerster shares how 49ers are preparing for ‘challenge' of Myles Garrett
San Francisco 49ers offensive line/assistant head coach Chris Foerster speaks to reporters during the second week of OTAs on Tuesday in Santa Clara.
Chris Foerster shares how 49ers are preparing for 'challenge' of Myles Garrett originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Video Transcript
Fun news thing.
what was your first impression of Myles Garrett getting traded to the Rams?
you know, I said to Kyle, "Kind of a little gut punch at first."
You feel like, "Oh, gosh, here we go."
But then, you know, I woke up really early this morning, earlier than usual, and I came in and just watched tape and I said, I mean, he's, he's an outstanding football player.
He's gonna be a challenge for us to take care of.
But it is, you know, we had a plan last year.
We do You're gonna do the best you can, and everybody has good players, and he's a great player, and it's good for, it's good for them.
Helps them, and, it'll be a good challenge for us.
So you came, you came in today and watched Myles Garrett tape first thing in the morning?
Is that right?
I sure did, yeah.
I just wanna remind my- because it felt, it feels, you know, it's kinda came out of left field, right?
Would you say- Sure.
Yeah that was a left field one?
Yeah.
Yeah.
so it came out of left field.
Just sitting there saying, "Well, oh, wow.
So what about this?
So let me..." Then you remember him, but, you know, he- we haven't been in the division, you don't play him all the time.
You're like, "Gosh, yeah, he, he made a couple plays."
And you say, then you're like, "Let me go back and look at the tape and see what it really was."
And, and he's a, he's a great player.
I'm not taking one thing.
He got after us.
Yeah.
But it wasn't, you know We did have a plan.
The plan was somewhat effective, and so we can, you know, there's other ways to do things as well.
So, you know, we'll see how that goes.
But- How form- how formidable are the Rams front and the Seahawks front, just in terms of all the good defense you've had to go against?
These two defensive fronts are pretty strong.
Yeah, they're all But everybody.
That's my- Yeah that's where I've kinda come to.
Yeah.
Like, we can look at the schedule.
I think last year we had the easiest schedule until you got to week 10, then you did it, and we had, like, the fifth hardest schedule in football.
You know, so you can, you can play this thing and then you, you play out the year, you play this out and, and, yes, you do the, the Yes, talent-wise they're, they're a talented group.
But I think, you know, our division, what is it?
Five out of the last nine years we've been represented in the Super Bowl from the NFC West, and, and defense has been a big part of it.
So they're all a good defense.
But everybody does.
I mean, to make a trip to Lambeau, go here, go there, like, gee, they all have good players.
And, and short of a team getting banged up and hurt, there's always gonna be a challenge, whether it be interior-wise or exterior on pass rush.
So it's always gonna be somebody.
Does this change your strategy going into week one down in Australia?
Yeah, it's, it's not really I mean, strategy-wise, we haven't started game planning yet, but obviously it does, it does, it's a factor.
But I'll say this.
Now, I think, you know, I don't this is gonna come out It's not gonna come out wrong.
It is what it is.
Myles Garrett's a player, and Jared Verse We had to take care of Jared Verse.
We have to take care of Myles Garrett.
Either you, you t- it's an edge player and you kinda have to do it.
There's only one or two ways to There's a lot of ways to take care of an edge player.
Mm-hmm.
But just say there's one or two ways to take care of an edge player.
Well, if you decide that's who you're gonna take care of, different than when it was Aaron Donald.
To take care of an interior player with a separate s- a different way to do it.
So you're Yes, you're I'm not saying they're the same guy.
I think Myles Garrett's a, been one of the He's an all-time great pass rusher.
He's an unbelievable talent.
but it's still an edge rusher that you have to account for.
How much does the addition of the passing game affect how Brock Purdy can get rid of the ball faster and then alleviate maybe the, the pressure?
Gosh, you just know offensive line too well.
The faster you throw it, the less we have to block.
I mean, yeah, it's the truth.
But no, obviously the pass Our, our last year, our drop back pass game, was, was more than, than side.
I mean, I, I, I don't know that Obviously being good at getting the ball out quick or being able to get open quick, whatever those things are, does help.
Obviously it's way too early for any declarations on the left guard job, but just kind of like how do you kind of view the position and, and the options that you have there here in, you know, June?
There's a lot of guys.
That's So it's wide open right now.
It's gonna be hard to get them all.
It's not gonna be hard to do it, it's just they're gonna all get their chances somewhere and we're gonna have to go with the best player.
I don't know that one person's gonna clear-cut win the job.
I mean, you look at it and, and, and, you know, Toth has been limited a little bit this spring, so he's not been able to get, to get guard reps. you know, the biggest improvement most guys make is between year one and year two.
And so you're gonna see a big jump in Connor Colby, and he has to make a big jump because when he stopped playing it, it, it was not real good for him.
So, but Connor has made a nice jump, as far as you can tell right now.
Sure.
Rob, Rob Jones coming in.
we've got obviously the draft pick, uh- Willis Cor- Willis.
Yep.
Carver Willis.
I, I, I always call him Corbin.
I have all these other- Two last names is tough.
It's weird, yeah.
So Carver's there.
Carver's done a nice job as well.
and, I don't wanna leave anybody out in the group, but there's, everybody's getting reps over there and working really hard to get the job and work- working to play that position.
And, and we'll see how it goes.
I really don't know.
And, but I feel real confident in the guys that are here.
I do.
I do think that, you know, you guys have heard this discussion before on what I feel about drafting offensive linemen.
Mm-hmm.
And I think there is a line, wherever that line is.
This year it happened to be where, Enrique was, Enrique Cruz.
He was to me, I, I think he's a, a starter going forward to some point in the league.
I think he's a starting t- talent, and he's sitting there in the fifth round.
But I think he was the it.
He was like, for me, that was the guy.
And then after that, now there may be other guys that start.
Connor was a seventh-round draft pick.
That wasn't my projection for him to be a starting guard.
Now, he exceeded our expectations when he first started playing, and he may still exceed our expectations.
but the other guys that are there are guys that are totally capable of being starters at the position, in our system and how we do things.
Connor would be exceeding.
As far as the replacing Matt Hennessy at, at backup center, is, is Toth, I know he played both guard and center at Philly.
Is that somebody that you're- Yes looking after there?
And that would be the problem.
If Toth did win the guard job, which we, as I said, he, he's not, he will be involved in it.
If he's one of our best five players, it does create a little bit of a, it gets a little sticky because then your ba- your backup center's in the, in the, in the game.
So then that means he's at risk of getting hurt.
So then who's your backup?
So there has to be a third center that you have to keep on ice because you don't want You know, 'cause then else, and if all your centers are playing One time I had all my centers were playing both guards and center in the game, and you're like, "Well, wait a minute.
I'm losing If they, they could all go out, what's gonna happen?
Who's gonna snap the ball?"
So, yeah, but that's the plan right now.
Toth is challenging, and then he'll get to compete at guard.
So that would be another, that's another layer to the problem, but right now that's not the problem.
What was your workout like with, with Cruz?
it was, was it at Kansas?Or Chicago area?
It was Chicago.
Yeah, I went to Chicago.
beautiful day in Chicago.
Happened to be warm when I went.
It was nice.
And, worked out at his high school.
It was a great, it was a cool, it was a cool deal.
His high school coach came out, and, one of his other coaches held the bag, and, and we just put, I just put him through some paces.
And what I really wanted to see was, I wanted to see, his football, like, there was You can put a guy on up a chalkboard and, and learn sh- you know, can he learn football?
And we felt pretty decent about that, but there were some questions.
Like, he's a little bit, maybe his football background wasn't great, so we wanna go check it out.
And Kyle said, "You gotta go there and start correcting him, and see how long it takes to get mad at him.
And if you get mad at him really, really fast, he may be a guy we don't wanna take, and if you have, if- if he can pick it up, then maybe we can do it."
And that's what happened.
I went there and, and he's really amazing.
It happened to Trent yesterday, okay?
I went to, this'll explain the workout.
Trent came to practice and, and he saw Enrique do something, he cr- and he, he corrected him.
He spent a little time over there, and next rep he did, Trent said, "Oh my God, he did everything I told him to do."
And that's what I found with Enrique.
He was, you correct him and he was like, boom, boom.
I was working on a guard, actually, 'cause we didn't know if we'd be able to draft a guard before him.
He might've been competing at guard if not for drafting the kid from Washington.
So, so we put him through the paces there and I said, "No, he can make these corrections.
He just doesn't have a ton of His experience is just not, it- it's just, I don't know how to say it.
It's just not all together yet."
What I saw on tape in Enrique was, I saw everything you need to do, be to be a starter, you see him do it at one point.
Like, every, every skill that there is in a guy, an anchor, a redirection, a linebacker, a second level, a pull, a, a s- a spectacular pass block.
You're like, "Wow, that's incred-" But it just wasn't consistent yet.
And it, is it inconsistent because of up here, or is it inconsistent because he just has to have the physical reps?
When you, when you go on these workouts, do you- I don't know who gets two questions in one.
It was easier when Corey took over.
Would, and, and the guy is, you know, beginning to impress you in the workout, do you, you know, step on the, the gas at that point?
Do you keep pushing him and pushing him?
No, no, no.
I just, the, the, the number one thing is it was, I don't know how, you don't wanna get anybody hurt.
That's kinda like the thing in football right now, although that's the 100%, everybody does get hurt in football, but you don't want anybody to get hurt.
So you don't wanna hurt them when they shouldn't get hurt, which is the workout.
So no, what I do is like, "Okay, y- you didn't do something right, okay?
So I'll let me correct you.
You do it.
Ah, great job."
Okay, then I go f- do four or five other things, and I'll come back, "Hey, let's go back and do that again and see if you can do it," and then see if he remembered what I told him, if the recall's there or something like that.
You, you brought up that Trent Williams was at practice yesterday, and he showed up.
What's his, I guess his physical and mental state right now going into this year?
Awesome.
Awesome.
And I mean, early takeaway, just seeing him and- No, he looks great did he have a good reaction about Miles Garrett coming aboard?
Yeah.
Max he looks.
I'll let you talk to him about that.
Yeah, figured.
No, it's, Trent's always great.
It's always funny, when he came here, I don't know, a few years ago, one of the first years he was here, Kyle wanted him here a little bit more and he came.
And I, I, I took him through individual period and I said, "Kyle, all we're doing is taking Trent off the tire right now."
Wow.
Because he's phenomenal.
He, he looks great.
Now, he still needs to work, and, and, and as we saw, camp has to be a certain way because he started the season maybe not the way we want, he wanted to start the season.
And we gotta be sure he gets enough work during camp that then we can get him to a good position.
Chris, is Cruz athletic enough that you could see him being utilized as a blocking tight end?
Is he, is he, 'cause it can be a tight roster spot.
Yeah, he's very athletic.
He's a very, very, very athletic kid.
That's what I love about the kid.
He's got athleticism, he's got speed, quickness, strength.
He's got all the, the traits.
And, we'll see.
He could, he could fill in many of those spots, possibly.
His roster's a long ways away.
And yeah, there seems to be with, you know, Lowe and Pleasance and him, and, and then the guys that, you know, the starters, it, there's a lot of guys, so we'll, we'll have to see how it plays itself out.
Did you- With the knee last year, how much did the knee injury he had in, exhibitions sort of maybe he's able to do?
I think what happened is he, he was developing well, and then he kinda hit a, a lull because of the knee.
So he fought through it and played through it, which is awesome.
The problem is he, he didn't maybe practice quite the way he could've.
didn't maybe come through, you know, it just, stuff wasn't as good.
And he didn't say it hurt, and didn't say it bothered him, but it was something.
And it slowed his, it kinda slowed his progress down, and then he kind of, he struggled coming back from it.
I, I, I will say this about Dom last year, and I don't know if we talked about this before, but Dom, Dom's rookie year, Dom flew by the seat of his pants and did a couple techniques, and he got by with it until about the last three or four games.
And I kept telling him week, I said, "Dom, you can't do this all year."
But he kept doing it, kept doing it.
It's what he was comfortable with, it's all he could do with, with certain techniques.
And that caught up with him at the end of the year.
This year he said, "I gotta fix all that."
So this year he went through a lot of the bumps that his rookie year Not making an excuse.
Right.
He's, it, it, it's, he had to, he had to learn to do some of these skills that he'd never done before, so that's- Did you, were you, how much did you weigh whether moving him to the left side to fill that spot?
I don't think we did.
I think it could've played out based on free agency and the draft and so many- But why, why not?
I'm just curious.
Just I know he's obviously stable and good at right guard, but why- That's why.
Okay.
Yeah.
Thanks.
Yeah, I mean, if, yeah, it would have to be, like I said, we drafted somebody that'd only played, or picked somebody that'd only been a right guard or something like that.
Right.
La- last year, Mike McDaniel in Miami, I asked because you used to work with him, and one of your former players, Dan Brunskill, played a lot of six-O-line tight end.
Do, do you study what your former colleagues do around the league?
As much as I can.
Yeah.
As much as I can.
People that are similar to us, it is fun to watch, because I think I was talking to Kevin Stefanski once.
I was calling him to recommend somebody for a job in Cleveland and, and he said, "You know, it's always fun to see the, the people that leave, that, whatever the system tree, all of a sudden Sean goes and does this, Matt does this, and then all these people that leave, Mike goes, and then you like to see kinda the road they go down.
And it does give you some ideas for things you could do differently.
What do you see as the qualities of your new tight ends coach, Cameron Huggins?
Oh, Cam?
What about, what are his good qualities?
Cam's an excellent teacher.
He's a quality, quality person.
He's a really good, he's, he's a really patient teacher, so he's really, really g- and Florio was the same way.
A very bright guy, very good teacher, good presenter, and, and he's out, he's awesome that way.
He, he's a, he's a, he's a really, really fine guy.
To have guys like Luke Farrell and Jake Tonges who have been here for a while, does that help that transition as well?
It should, yeah.
I think it's gonna be a challenge, though.
They'll all get to know each other this year.
It'll be good for them.
I remember the first year I went from the line room to the tight end room in Indianapolis, and I made the comment, I said, "I thought I was..." I make this comment, I was one step ahead of them all year.
I think I was three steps behind.
They pulled me along the first year, and by year two I was able to actually be a better tight end coach.
We've got so many people here that have run the system before that, that we have helpers that have been in the room and stuff like that.
So, Cam's gonna be great.
But it is a, it is a transition.
And that you should talk to him about the, not having been involved in the pass game.
It just takes a little time to catch up, you know, to be really proficient at it.
Where is McKivitz made his biggest jumps over the years?
Colton, Colton's, um-Colton's attempting to get He attempts in games to get better all the time.
He works really, really hard to, like when we say we're gonna fix something, he goes out to the game and does it.
And so that's what's the biggest jump.
When you're, when you're a younger player, you, you know, he, we, we were laughing about the other day, the jump from, you know, the meeting room, then you walk out the practice field, and you go in drill work, then you go to a team period.
But then to make that jump into the stadium and do it for 65 plays every single Sunday against the best people in the world, and to trust your technique and not just, "I'm just gonna grab onto this guy and hang on and hope we get the ball out," or whatever happens.
He's trusting, and then that allows you to get better.
'Cause the best reps are the reps you get on game day, and he's willing to take the chances that it takes some courage to say, "I don't mind getting beat.
I don't mind missing.
I don't mind doing these things."
It happens to Trent.
It's real easy for Trent to just go bear hug and it's over, as opposed to, "I'm gonna work to, to maintain my skills."
Two great picks, from Washington, where, where Jedd Fisch, your, your friend is the coach.
Yeah.
And I spoke to him a couple weeks ago, and he took me back all the way to the Baltimore days where, where you met him.
how often are you in touch with him?
And, I know one of the picks was an offensive lineman.
Yeah.
How much intel, that you probably normally wouldn't get were you able to glean about Carver Willis?
Yeah, I was just there.
I mean, so I, but they, they fly They, they were allowed to be, go do clinics and stuff, and that's why I'd go visit Jedd as a friend.
But mostly they, they bring me up there to do clinic talks, and they were trying to install some more stuff with the offensive line play.
And so in coaching their line coach, I could then watch the tape with the line coach and just be, like, coaching him up and saying, "Hey, but, you know, Carver needs to do this.
This kid needs to do this, this kid needs to do that."
So, and but Jedd and I used to be It's funny how things have happened.
We used to talk, like, weekly, and now with texting and everything, we, we maybe talk once a month.
But I always talk to him three times over the last week.
we'll talk a little bit more in the off-season.
We both get busy, but he's one of my best friends in, in, in, in coaching, in the world, in coaching in the world.
He's a, he's a really good friend.
That's funny.
And it did play, it did play a role, getting to know the kid and 'cause you get to know the character as well as everything else.
