Run Game Coordinator/Offensive Line Chris Foerster Press Conference

Run Game Coordinator/Offensive Line Chris Foerster

Press Conference – September 6, 2024

San Francisco 49ers

What will it be like to see OL Jake Brendel and New York Jets DL Javon Kinlaw potentially lock horns. Kinlaw supposedly put on 30 pounds. What kind of a challenge is that going to be for Jake to anchor against a guy like that?

“Great challenge. We get challenges every week and Javon’s another crazy, great guy, great player, loved our time with him here. We really respect him and the job that he does. It’s going to be a great challenge for whoever has to block the guy. He can be as dominant a defensive lineman as we see. And from what we’ve heard, he is having a great camp and is ready to go. So obviously we’ve got a great challenge ahead of us.”

I know it’s only been a couple of days, but how does T Trent Williams look just in terms of his game shape, etc.?

“Trent is Trent. He continues to be Trent. He gets out there and I think as always, I think we’ve talked about before in getting guys ready to play, there’s that push and pull of being full speed against somebody shoving on you. Yesterday got him a little bit, but today he seemed much better and tomorrow he’ll continue to push himself. We’ll see how it goes.”

How has RB Christian McCaffrey looked being back at practice?

“He looked good. He looks like Christian to me. Same thing. Everybody, if you don’t practice, again, you need to practice. And so the guys who haven’t practiced, I don’t want to say there’s rust, but there’s always a little something that goes on just because they haven’t been doing it every day. There’s just that grind of every day, after day, after you’ve missed a couple. There’s always something. But he’s looked good.”

You guys have been putting the run game plan together going into this week. Has your expectation all along been that Christian will be ready to go and take on his normal role?

“Yeah, and I think the run plan doesn’t change much. I think there’s much more probably involving the passing game I would think with Christian than there is with the run game because he creates so many matchup issues in the passing game. While that can help the running game, oftentimes the run game is kind of the run game. Like we talked before [RB] Elijah [Mitchell] had this run or [RB Jordan Mason] JP has this run and Christian, it kind of comes out as it comes out.”

Based on the way they were calling the illegal formation last night. Is that something you have to reinforce maybe more than normal?

“Yeah, I showed the clips this morning. There was a kid from Washington who had three. I think they posted online where the quarterback had his first touchdown pass in the preseason called back because a guy, those were legitimately, that cap was a yard behind everybody else. The ones yesterday, not for me. I’m not an official and I don’t comment on officiating and everything else. They see what they see. And obviously the letter of the law, if your head’s not breaking the waist, the belt line of the center or whatever that is, they’re going to call it.”

For this game, would you consider mixing in OL Jaylon Moore a little bit with Trent until he’s fully game ready and in shape to go?

“Well, I’ve been trying to purposely let Jaylon just rep the left side because I don’t know. I think a couple years ago, in the Covid year we went down to SoFi and Trent was coming off an injury. In the fourth quarter of that game, I went back and looked the other day with [head strength and conditioning coach] Dustin Perry, our strength coach. We had like a nine-play drive, 11-play drive and a 12 or 13-play drive to win the game when [former NFL K] Robbie [Gould] kicked the field goal at the end, [Minnesota Vikings QB] Nick Mullens was quarterback. We won at the end on a field goal and Trent said that fourth quarter he was hanging on and he’d just come off an injury. So, you’d like to think he’s going to play, but then again it could be an 80-play game and it could end up in a position where the guy can’t do it. So, is it going to be a rotation? I don’t know. We’ll see how Trent does after tomorrow and see exactly what happens. Hopefully Trent can play it out. If he can’t. Jaylon definitely has had a good camp and is ready to go and how we orchestrate that, I’m not sure that we have to, we’ll see.”

With Trent is it a possibility that he needs a breather for a series?

“Yeah, I would think so. We talk about it. Do you see Trent Williams over there on the bike pedaling while he is waiting for the next series? I just don’t know. It just kind of seems weird. I don’t know how we’re going to do it. We’ll see how it goes. It’s a working progress, but we’ve had a lot of discussion about it. We’ll see what happens.”

Trent went out of his way the other day when he talked to us to say that how special you’ve been to him for so long, called you an ‘uncle.’ How much communication do you actually do and how much do you just know each other and it’s unspoken?

“Well, if it’s an uncle, it’s the crazy uncle, that’s for sure. Trent and I don’t have to say a lot to each other in regard to that. It’s not an excuse. We’ve just gotten close through the years. I was with him when he was young and crazy and he was having a hard time not managing the league. He was immature. I’ve watched him grow through the years and we’ve been through a lot together. My son, Micah, worked with us like as a ball boy at camp in Washington. Trent took him in like his own brother. And I think at the time Micah was 10. I don’t know what he was, he was young. And from that time kind of became part of our family. He always was like a family member to us. We just had a good relationship. And Trent’s the kind of player that as you coach him, I think Kyle would get frustrated with me, but I think over time as he’s matured, Kyle’s understood it. I can get on Trent, it’s a different relationship. It’s a guy I communicate with, talk with. As I said, I think I’ve said to you before that [OL Dominick] Puni is right in that basket with work done and Trent as guys that really get football early. That was the point with Trent. I started to coach him. I realized this guy sees the game at a different level for a young player. So that communication was always that way. And personally, it’s not like we’re in each other’s business as far as personally family and stuff like that, but there’s just a closeness. I don’t know what. It is a good connection. I’m flattered he thinks that of me. I’ve always thought of all my guys that way. But Trent I’ve been with for a long time and then watching his ups and downs and what he’s gone through in his career has been really cool. It’s cool to be with him right now.”

Trent told us the other day how he would like to break down barriers, like keep going and play at high level to at least 40. He seems to have a real sense of history and maybe where he places in that. How have you seen that aspect in him grow?

“He loves ball. When he got in the league, it’s like, ‘can I see film on [former NFL OL] Walter Jones? He was playing with Seattle and unfortunately the film we had Walter was at the end of his career, wasn’t as good as he remembered him. Trent’s always had an appreciation. We’ve always studied other players. He’s always looked at other players. Trent is a student of the game, although he comes across all flash and whatever Trent is. He is locked in on football. He loves football. He loves studying the game. He loves understanding the game. He has a great appreciation for the history of the game and the great players. I didn’t know what was going on with this contract. I can’t deal with this. It’s above my pay grade for sure. But I know the guy and the guy wants to play football. For him to have said, ‘I’m going to retire’ would’ve been really hard for him because he does have these other goals. So I’m really glad, whatever it is, they worked out, they worked out. For him, for our team, number one because we need the guy, but for him personally, because I do know he wants to be known as that special guy that kind of sets all the things, and I get it. When I was in Minnesota, [former NFL OL] Randall McDaniel broke the record for consecutive Pro Bowls and this was when it was at the Ihilani Resort, which is off on the other side of the island, not downtown. They just moved to the other side and he got the whole top floor of the hotel. And it was my second, third year in the league. Well, I was in actually in Tampa at the time. But anyway, really impressive. That is cool. Really, really cool. And then a couple years later with [former NFL OL] Bruce Matthews who then broke that record and you’re like those things are cool. Those firsts. I’ve been a part of a lot of bad firsts, but to be a part of some really good firsts and for Trent that’s just a really cool deal.”

With New York Jets DL Quinnen Williams, speaking of great players, there’s a lot of big strong guys, but he’s obviously great. What makes him so great?

“He’s got a great, low center of gravity. He’s gotten bigger. Our guys were laughing the other day. He’s listed at 303 pounds. I don’t think he’s at 303 anymore. That might have been his Combine weight. But he is a load and he plays with a great center of gravity. He plays with great energy. He’s got explosion in his body. So he is one of those guys. We listed a bunch of guys the other day as to where he would rank with and I’m not going to give you the ranking between the great defensive tackles that we face and we face a lot of them. And he’s just one of those real strong and explosive guys that you don’t get on him quick if you don’t take care of your business, you’re not recovering. He’s too strong and too powerful a guy, and it makes it hard to recover. So you got to be on your business early to take care of if you have a chance to take care of him.”

When you say you guys talk about rankings, it is like a serious or casual conversation?

“It’s like here’s what I threw out. I said, ‘okay, how good is Quinnen Williams? I said, ‘okay so I threw out, [former DL] Aaron Donald. The guy from New York, [New York Giants DL Dexter] Lawrence, right? Okay. Ninety-seven [DL Kenny Clark] from Green Bay. Okay. throw out another one. There’s another really good one we play. Oh [Kansas City Chiefs DL] Chris Jones, right? I could list about three or four more guys you say, ‘okay, where does he fit in that ranking?’ Well, you guys in your mind are already doing it and you guys are one step better. And so you sit there and you say to yourself so this guy’s a really good player, but we’ve played a lot of really good players too. That’s not to diminish him. He could tear us up. He is capable of wrecking the game. You have to know where he is. But we’ve dealt with a lot of guys as well. So he’s the challenge this week, shoot, when we played Indianapolis a couple years ago, we slid our protection. At the time we were a little more flexible because of what Indy did. We slid to Buck [Indianapolis Colts DT DeForest Buckner]. Now Buck is not what we all would’ve considered a premier pass rusher. But he was their pass rusher. He was their bell cow in their rush scheme. And so we had to take care of Buck. And so, he’s the guy this week. Where he ranks in that group, I’ll leave that to you guys. We’ll see where it ends up.”