Harris, Staley making right tackle interesting

By Darrell Laurant  |   Thursday, August 09, 2007  |  Comments( 11 )

San Francisco 49ers
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It's no secret that the San Francisco 49ers would like to have a right offensive tackle a little better than Kwame Harris was last year.

Of course, they'd be perfectly happy if that upgrade came in the person of Kwame Harris. And the 49ers coaches are savoring the battle between Harris and rookie Joe Staley for the starting assignment.

The lines of that battle are clearly drawn. Harris can be a dominating run blocker but has a tendency to whiff on speed rushers, allowing 8½ sacks and committing four holding penalties (usually the lesser of two evils to a sack) in 2006.

Staley, while young and being tested by a much higher level of competition (the 6-foot-5, 306-pounder starred at Central Michigan) is already considered a solid pass blocker, but he has work to do in the running game.

Harris has encouraged his coaches by rising to the challenge.

"When someone's chasing you," the 6-7, 322-pounder told the San Francisco Chronicle, "it makes you run faster."

Or, as Craig Massei of San Francisco Illustrated put it, "If this is Kwame Harris' last shot with the 49ers, he's going to go down swinging and drive blocking."

Harris can test free agency next year, and if Staley continues to improve, chances are the 49ers will let him. As for Staley, he's already worked with the first unit -- in the spring, when Harris was hurt during OTAs.

Staley is keeping a blog for the 49ers' Web site. Among other things, the first entry told the world that he came to California a week early just to adjust to the time change, that his roomate (guard Sean Estrada) talks in his sleep, and that his favorite TV show is "Entourage." He also compared the thousands who show up to watch the team's practices with the "one old man" who watched at CMU.

Speaking of old men, Staley also noted of veteran Larry Allen's arrival in camp, "That was exciting, because growing up, he was my grandfather's favorite player."

This is a guy who has, as Yogi Berra once said, his whole future ahead of him. Yet while both Harris and Staley insist that their furious competition is friendly, the veteran is saying, "Not so fast, kid."
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CommentsComments: 11  |  Sign Up  View all comments
No.1
mike		07:13 AM
08/09/2007
Being in the East Coast I haven't seen many Niner games. Harris' only bad stat is the 8.5 sacks. They say his work ethic is solid...
No.2
Scott		09:59 AM
08/09/2007
once again, a re-write of others sh!t. This is not news quality. Just try to talk about a topic that hasn't been re-published a...
No.3
Brian		10:18 AM
08/09/2007
Being from the West Coast I have seen him up close in training camp. I don't hate the guy, that's really not the point. But when...
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