It's no secret San Francisco 49ers left tackle Joe Staley continues to play at a high level despite the fact that he turns 35 years old later this summer. But with Staley receiving a two-year contract extension, combined with the 2018 first-round NFL Draft selection of right tackle Mike McGlinchey, the Niners are hoping to have two solid bookends along their offensive line for the foreseeable future.
And Pro Football Focus deemed it worthy of being an excellent tandem, too.
PFF's Mark Chichester broke down the NFL's top five offensive tackle tandems heading into the 2019 season, and the Staley-McGlinchey duo ranked No. 3 on his list.
Chichester wrote:
There are no two ways about it, Joe Staley is as good as they come at the left tackle spot. He's earned an overall grade above 80.0 in each of the past seven years, and he's the only left tackle in the NFL who has earned pass-blocking and run-blocking grades above 70.0 in each of the past three. Last season, Staley allowed just four sacks, seven hits and 14 hurries from 566 pass-blocking snaps. Now 12 years into his career, he's yet to allow more than 40 pressures over the course of a season —12 offensive tackles allowed more than 40 pressures just last season alone.
Mike McGlinchey didn't wow in pass protection a season ago — he allowed 39 pressures from 632 snaps, and his 64.2 pass-blocking grade ranked 65th among 82 qualifying tackles — but he was exceptional in the run game. The Notre Dame product paved the way for Matt Breida & Co. all season long, earning the league's third-best run-blocking grade (78.2) in the process. McGlinchey was a man mountain at the point of attack; his 12.0% impact run-block percentage ranked third among the 83 tackles with at least 100 run-blocking snaps, just one spot above teammate Joe Staley, who earned a mark of 11.5%.
The New Orleans Saints' Terron Armstead and Ryan Ramczyk came in at No. 1 on Chichester's list, while the Green Bay Packers' tandem of Bryan Bulaga and David Bakhtiari ranked second ahead of San Francisco.
McGlinchey's forte at Notre Dame was in run support, so it's not much of a surprise to see PFF grade him down a bit in pass protection. One can hope a full year starting at the NFL level has given the former No. 9 overall pick a bit more of an edge heading into his second season at the pro level.
49ers fans need not worry about Staley, outside of the always-present injury risk for any player.