Brunskill says he’s taken a “good amount of reps” at right guard this offseason

Late Thursday morning, Daniel Brunskill joined the media to talk about which positions he’s working on, how he adjusted to the NFL and a trip to Hungary. Brunskill said that he’d taken a “good amount of reps” at right guard when he’s been practicing by himself. Brunskill said he’s been focusing on all five positions and is ready to start anywhere, but he’s been mainly practicing for right guard.

I asked Brunskill if there’s any specific player that he’s been tried to model himself after and what were the biggest adjustments going from the AAF to the NFL:

The difference is there is a little bit more of speed and strength. The AAF had tremendous players, and I think we proved that on the Niners with how many players we’ve had from the AAF. Damontre Moore was a guy that I had as a teammate when I was in the AAF. He was a great player to go against and to learn from. It goes back to the live reps versus the practice reps. He was definitely able to help me to improve my game, taking a lot more live reps in games that are different than the practice reps—being able to go against someone like Damontre every practice that was focusing on getting back to the NFL, so he was going a lot harder in practice to help you improve and becoming a better player.

There are a lot of players in the NFL that are great players to watch. I focus on the teams that fit Kyle Shanahan’s offensive scheme-wise because our zone is a lot different than what most teams zone scheme is. So I try my best to find teams that run plays similar to ours and the way we run our scheme. So it’s not as much on the players and more on the scheme of it. There’s a lot of great players you can learn from in different ways and see what they do that helps them. Every player is different, so sometimes it doesn’t always help to watch one specific player to do exactly what he does. It does help to see what he’s doing well and what might be able to help you.

Brunskill’s answer was more thorough than I expected. I love his train of thought, especially about why you shouldn’t focus on just one player.

Who has been assisting Brunskill this offseason? His sister and brother-in-law, as well as a medicine ball. Brunskill, who has spent this off-season in North Dakota, said his family’s main jobs are throwing weighted balls at him, which take oncoming 300-pound men. Brunskill said, “you can practice punching to simulate a defense because those have a little weight behind you. And so I’ve been having them help me with that. Sometimes, I have them hold a med ball, and I do other drills off of that. They’ve definitely been very supportive and helped me the best way they could.”

10/10 for creativity, Brunskill. How can he improve in 2020? Here’s what the San Francisco 49ers right guard had to say:

“Just focusing on a lot of technique and working on specific things to each play. When you understand the playbook more and understand what Kyle wants you to do and what the offensive line coaches are asking you to do, you can just get better at what you do on each play to make the best block and to make the block work for how the play is designed to work. So focusing on that, and then also technique. I think, no matter where you are in the game, technique can always be better and improved, so focusing a lot on that, especially in some of the pass [protection] things.”

I’d expect Brunskill to be one of the 49ers that takes a significant leap in 2020.