Weston Richburg speaks his mind: Former Ram on teammates work ethic, coaching in the NFL and more

There are men’s men and then there are offensive line-men, a different breed entirely.

Weston Richburg, the former Colorado State Rams’ center and New York Giants starting offensive linemen, certainly falls into the latter category. Weston, in a recent interview with NFL.com, fully embraced his embattled O-lineman attitude, making this writer think back to the good old days when Broncos linemen wouldn’t talk to the media and kept everything in-house.

Richburg did talk to the media, but his sentiments certainly fit that old-school offensive lineman mentality that we’re talking about here. Richburg was interviewed by the league’s website while training at the O-Line Performance Center in Chandler, Arizona.

Richburg is at the facility with other NFL linemen, working on “reversing a disturbing lack of teaching for O-linemen at the pro level” as the article puts it. Richburg agrees with this wholeheartedly saying, “There isn’t much teaching going on at all. It’s kind of sink or swim. That’s why I am here.”

Weston didn’t stop there adding, “The percentage of guys who are just OK to be there (in the league) is pretty high. This is pretty rare. The majority of my offensive line is not doing anything right now… I know a lot of guys are just happy to be there. That’s the difference between them and the guys who are here (training).”

When he says “my offensive line” he’s talking about his fellow teammates on the Giants. A powerful statement about the work ethic on New York’s unit, a group that has lots of younger players on it.

Richburg has established himself as a leader in the trenches for the Giants and is coming off a superb second season. He’s received especially high grades by Pro Football Focus’ rankings as one of the best centers in the game last year. That doesn’t interest the Rams former center much, saying, “On Twitter, I get tagged in so much PFF stuff. You hear this stuff, but you have to look at the source… Most of these people who talk about offensive line play don’t know anything about offensive line play.”

So to summarize, Richburg thinks there isn’t much teaching in the NFL, that his teammates are just happy to be in the league and that PFF doesn’t know about O-line play. Now that’s an offensive lineman!

No surprise the Broncos old O-lines wouldn’t talk to the media. In all seriousness, Richburg is taking a needed leadership role on a young unit with lots of pressure to perform. He’s doing his part trying to get better, and he expects his teammates to do the same. Strong leadership, from one of the best to grace the green and gold this millennium.

We’d expect nothing less. Keep working your tail off, Weston, and stay on your teammates’, too.