Joe Staley sounds happy with his life after football. The Encinitas, California resident is healthier, slimmer (he's dropped about 50 pounds), able to spend more time with his family, and doesn't have to deal with as much pain while doing so. There are still the occasional issues, and he may need neck surgery down the road, but he sounds content in his decision to retire.
"I have lower back pain — you get hit as many times as you do over the course of our career, everything doesn't feel that great," Staley recently told the San Francisco Chronicle. "My pec hurts. It's like stuff that I'm now noticing when I'm golfing. It's like, 'Ahh, that hurts. Why does that hurt? Oh, yeah, because I'm 36 years old and played football for 25 years of my life.'"
Still, part of Staley misses the game. He is still connected to it. Aside from watching the San Francisco 49ers on television and voicing his opinion on social media, the former offensive tackle is working with two draft prospects — Northern Iowa's Spencer Brown and North Dakota State's Dillon Radunz.
Can Staley envision a future in coaching, possibly with his former team? Absolutely. Maybe not right now, but perhaps down the road.
"Honestly, I think it would be really fun," Staley said. "I would really love to go down that avenue. It would have to be, hopefully, a staff like Kyle's (Shanahan) staff. Working with those guys would be awesome. At this point, though, I'm not ready to give up that many hours, especially right after playing."
Working with Brown and Radunz, Staley feels he may need more experience before diving into a full-time coaching career.
"I'm finding that I'm not a coach," Staley said. "I could be, but right now I'm not because it's pretty foreign to me. It's funny because I'm just so used to doing it. And trying to explain so that they can understand it and then replicate it, it's challenging. I'm not used to doing that, but I'm getting more comfortable."
Click here to read the entire feature on Staley over at the San Francisco Chronicle.
