SANTA CLARA — As Aaron Banks exited the field at Levi's Stadium with a calf injury in the second half of the 49ers' season opener, Spencer Burford abruptly was thrust into a position he never had played in the NFL. And he couldn't have looked more comfortable doing so.
Burford, a 2022 fourth-round draft pick, entered Week 1 having played all 1,733 of his NFL snaps on the right side of San Francisco's offensive line. With Banks' sudden departure during the 49ers' 32-19 win over the New York Jets on Monday at Levi's Stadium, Burford slotted in to the left of the center for the first time since college, and it was a welcomed return for the third-year pro.
"It felt good being back over there, just on the left side in general, just playing felt natural," Burford told NBC Sports Bay Area. "I was just trying really to get a feel getting back with my guys. I lost all those reps in camp with my broken hand. So I'm just trying to make up that time, making sure I'm locking in, doing whatever they tell me to do."
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Burford played left tackle for over 90 percent of his snaps across his final two seasons at the University of Texas at San Antonio before entering the NFL.
Making the transition to professional football is a daunting task in its own right, further amplified when that leap comes with the challenge of taking on the responsibility of learning an entirely new position to boot.
"To break it down, it's like you writing with your right hand, and then all of a sudden they tell you to write with your left hand," Burford said. "You got to learn the new, you got to adapt to it. Everything is natural, you set so long in your sets, how you adjust to certain things. You have to adjust it, switch it, tweak it, and for you to do something so consistently — everything is about consistency when you play offensive line.
"So not being able to be consistent within the job and having to adapt and learn, those are the challenges of it. But at the end of the day, you're playing pro football. That's what comes with it. So, that's why you got to learn to adapt. But being back on the left, like I said, it felt natural because I'd been doing it for so long."
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Burford's strong showing at left guard perhaps offered a glimpse into the future for San Francisco, which faces a crucial offseason on the horizon with a number of players scheduled to receive substantial pay days.
Among those is Banks, who is in the final year of his rookie contract, with a considerable raise presumably in his future after serving as the 49ers' starting left guard since the beginning of the 2022 NFL season.
NFL teams have made it abundantly clear they are willing to pay a premium for serviceable interior offensive linemen, which Banks has been for San Francisco, particularly as a run-blocker.
With marquee players like quarterback Brock Purdy and swiss-army knife defensive back Deommodore Lenoir also poised for lucrative contracts, Banks might not fit into the 49ers' ever-shrinking budget as San Francisco's roster continues to expand with high-paid stars.
While the 49ers have a considerable amount of salary-cap space they can roll over into 2025, a significant chunk of those funds likely already have been budgeted for Purdy's pending extension. That creates a difficult decision for San Francisco's front office that faces the unenviable endeavor of trying to retain as much of its roster as possible with limited financial flexibility to do so.
Enter Burford, who carries roughly a $1.27 million cap hit in 2025, per Over the Cap, presenting the 49ers with what figures to be a remarkably cheaper alternative if Banks' market follows the recent trend of free-agent guards of a similar caliber.
Burford quickly earned the trust of his coaches and teammates as a rookie, starting at right guard for the majority of the 2022 season, all while dealing with the aforementioned growing pains of switching to the right side.
Monday's sample size was limited (16 snaps to be exact) but Burford on the left side looked exactly how he described — natural. Burford didn't allow a single pressure while in the game and put an impressive pancake on film, leveling Jets defensive lineman Jermaine Johnson II into the Levi's turf on a trap block.
The talent always has been there for Burford, and slotting him into a more comfortable role on the left side of the offensive line long-term could be perfect antidote to extract maximum value out of a roster that could look drastically different in 2025.
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