San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan sat down with reporters on Thursday following the selection of former Notre Dame tackle Mike McGlinchey with the ninth-overall pick. Lynch said that McGlinchey was a player the team scouted for a long time and it just kept gaining steam.
"The more we watched him, the more we liked him," Lynch said.
The 49ers met with McGlinchey at the NFL Scouting Combine two months ago. However, McGlinchey told Bay Area media that the combine was the last time he heard from the 49ers. He was shocked to be selected by San Francisco.
"I had no idea," McGlinchey said. "It's definitely a shock, but absolutely thrilled to be part of the San Fransico 49ers organization. It has a lot of great history with a lot of great quarterbacks and a lot of great Super Bowls."
Lynch explained that the 49ers didn't have McGlinchey visit Santa Clara as part of the pre-draft evaluation process because there were no more questions in their minds about him.
"So we decided, 'Hey, let's lay under the radar,'" Lynch said. "We did that for good reason. And then I would tell you, from the combine, closer to the draft, our feelings for him only got stronger, so we're glad that we chose not to bring him in ... We just didn't want anything out there that we were interested in him."
Other options like Georgia linebacker Roquan Smith were off the board by the time the 49ers' pick came around. Even though the team fielded "a bunch of calls" on potential trades for the ninth-overall pick, Lynch indicated that the team was set on drafting the Fighting Irish offensive lineman.
"Last week, we decided if he's there at nine, he's the guy we're taking," Lynch said.
The selection of McGlinchey casts some doubt on the future of right tackle Trent Brown, who is recovering from a shoulder injury that ended his 2017 season. Shanahan stated that McGlinchey would play right tackle and could help at guard if needed.
As for Brown's future, Lynch said there are currently no plans to trade him, but things could change. Brown's contract is up after the 2018 season.
"Never say never," Lynch said, "but right now, we're pleased to have great competition at that spot."
Lynch was asked what it was about McGlinchey that impressed the team during the combine.
"There's some people who command a room, who own a room," he responded. "Like I said, there were probably two guys that stood out from the pack. We have 60 interviews at the combine. He was a guy who came in and just kind of owned the room, and everyone felt -- it wasn't just me -- Kyle felt that way, our coaches that were in the room felt that way, our scouts in the room.
"He's got a special presence to him. He's real, he's authentic, and he's a badass."