San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan on Tuesday in a press conference with reporters confirmed veteran center Weston Richburg will be retiring from the NFL instead of returning to the team for the 2021 season.
Richburg will finish his career having appeared in 79 games (78 starts) over six NFL seasons. Drafted by the New York Giants in the 2nd round of the 2014 NFL draft, Richburg spent the first four seasons of his career in the Big Apple before signing with the 49ers prior to the 2018 season on a five-year, $47.5 million free-agent contract. However, injuries ultimately limited him to just 28 starts in San Francisco.
While Richburg is still just 29, the interior of offensive lineman has dealt with a series of injuries in recent years.
After missing the second half of 2019 and all of 2020 recovering from knee surgery, Richburg underwent a hip operation this offseason, which made a return to the gridiron unlikely. The 49ers signaled this move was coming earlier in the offseason when they restructured Richburg’s contract to spread the expected dead money from his retirement over the next few seasons.
The 49ers added veteran center Alex Mack this offseason on a three-year deal to replace Richburg as the starting center after cycling through a number of backup options last season.
