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Here at Niners Nation, we're presenting a series called "90-in-90". We'll be looking at every player on the 49ers offseason roster, one player per post, from now until the start of training camp.
We're slowly but surely wrapping up our 90-in-90 series, with about a week's worth of posts remaining. We've got some big names on the docket, but we also have some players down near the bottom of the 49ers 90-man roster. Today, we look at one such player in offensive guard Wayne Tribue.
The 49ers signed Tribue to a reserve/future contract a few days after the Super Bowl. Tribue entered the NFL in 2012 when he signed as an undrafted free agent with Denver Broncos. He was subsequently released during training camp, but signed to the Broncos practice squad. He was released later in the season, and then signed with the New orleans Saints practice squad in December.
Although Tribue is facing long odds of making the 49ers roster, National Football Post viewed him as an extremely underrated prospect last year. Wes Bunting appears to be a big fan of him, loving his size, scrappiness and general technique. Among other things, Bunting thinks Tribue did good work in college keeping his base under him and generally good body control, a quick initial step and solid change of direction in space, and generally nimble-footed. He did think he needed to improve on re-working his hands through contact for purposes of leverage. Overall though, his impression of Tribue was a guy who could fight for playing time with a bit more development.
An interesting side note is that Tribue took the MCATs his senior year at Temple, and previously mentioned that medical school remained an option. He seems like a generally good guy, although we'll see if the brains needed for medical school can potentially translate and help him compete for an NFL job.
What to expect in 2013
Tribue played all three interior line positions at one time or another with Temple, before settling in at right guard during his senior season. With Daniel Kilgore and Joe Looney just about locked in, and Adam Snyder potentially snagging a spot as well, the best I think we can expect from Tribue is a spot on the practice squad.
Odds of making the roster
His odds of making the 53-man roster are minimal. The question becomes whether he can make the practice squad. The 49ers have quite a bit of young offensive line talent on the 90-man roster. With only so many roster spots available, the battle for even a practice squad spot will be tough. He will be competing with Al Netter, Carter Bykowski, Kenny Wiggins for potential offensive line spots on the practice squad. Netter is the only other guard in that group, but it's hard to really project which of the two has a better chance at a practice squad spot.