A native of Bushland, Texas, Richburg attended Bushland High School, where he was a two-sport star in football and track. In football, he was a two-way lineman and team captain. As a senior, he recorded two sacks as a defensive lineman, but earned first-team all-district honors on the offensive line. The Bushland Falcons went undefeated through the regular season, but lost in the first round of the UIL 2A Division I playoffs to eventual state champion Muleshoe. Richburg also competed in track & field at Bushland as a thrower. He captured the state title in the shot put event at the 2009 UIL T&F Championships, with a PR throw of 18.34 meters, setting a school record, that ranks as the fourth-best throw by a Texas prep athlete in any classification and worthy of the Texas Class 2A gold medal. In the discus, he got a top-throw of 53.31 meters at the 2009 Texas Tech Regional Qualifiers, where he took bronze. He also competed as a hurdler earlier in high school. Regarded as a two-star recruit by Rivals.com, Richburg was not ranked among the best offensive lineman of the class of 2009, which also included D. J. Fluker and Taylor Lewan. He chose Colorado State over Texas Christian, the only other scholarship offer he received.
Richburg was considered one of the best center prospects for the 2014 NFL Draft. He was drafted by the New York Giants in the second round of the 2014 NFL Draft, becoming the most recent Colorado State offensive lineman to be selected in an NFL Draft, following Shelley Smith in 2010.
New York Giants
Due to numerous injuries to offensive lineman in his rookie season, most notably to guards Chris Snee and Geoff Schwartz, Richburg, despite initially intended as the backup center in his rookie season, was forced to play out of position at guard. Because of his limited experience and relatively small size for the position, he struggled. In 2015, Richburg was returned to his natural position of center, and with a year of NFL experience under his belt, he soon showed himself to be among the league's best centers; Pro Football Focus ranked him as the NFL's #2 center for the 2015 season. In Week 3 against the Washington Redskins on September 25, 2016, Richburg was ejected for committing two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties. He became the first player to be ejected under this new rule since NFL applied it during the beginning of 2016. On November 4, 2017, Richburg was placed on injured reserve with a concussion.
On March 14, 2018, Richburg signed a five-year, $47.5 million contract with the San Francisco 49ers. In Week 14 of the 2019 season, Richburg suffered a torn patellar tendon and was ruled out for the rest of the season. He was placed on injured reserve on December 11, 2019. Without Richburg, the 49ers reached Super Bowl LIV, but lost 31-20 to the Kansas City Chiefs. He was placed on the active/physically unable to perform list at the start of training camp on July 28, 2020.
