49ers offensive tackle Mike McGlinchey gave reporters a noticeably positive update on his injury rehab Monday, saying he was very satisfied with his progress and expects to be on the field once training camp starts in July.
McGlinchey has been hard at work in recent months rehabbing a torn quadriceps tendon that ended his 2021 season in November. He's been doing some running and weight training, as evidenced by some workout footage he recently posted to Instagram, and it sounds like he's had nothing but forward momentum throughout his rehab.
"I feel great," McGlinchey said. "I've been getting around great. I've been walking for a number of months now. I got cleared to play golf a couple months ago, so life's pretty good."
McGlinchey told reporters that he doesn't know if he'll be able to participate much in the team's offseason workout program but is ahead of schedule from where he was originally projected in his rehab. He gave a definitive "yes" when asked if he expects to be ready for camp and says he's two months ahead on what was originally a six-month timetable for a return to training activity.
"I'm just around the six-month mark," McGlinchey said. "I think that was kind of the ballpark for getting cleared for activity, and I've been doing activities for just about two months now. So I'm feeling really good with where I'm at. My body feels great. I've been able to train really hard and continue to increase volume and load and all that kind of stuff each week as it's gone on. The pain has subsided for the most part. Obviously I still get a little sore from workouts here and there, but nothing that's not manageable. Nothing that hasn't allowed me to train the next day, which -- knock on wood -- has been a pretty good sign. So I'm excited for where I'm at and where I'm going to be a couple months from now."
McGlinchey's injury was serious, but it wasn't quite on the level of being a career-threatening situation. As a matter of fact, McGlinchey feels he's now better-suited to prolong his career because of the procedure that was performed on his quad.
"I never had that conversation with anyone," McGlinchey said. "Obviously they tell you about all the risks, they tell you about things that happen with surgery, but nobody ever told me or had the conversation with me, like 'Hey Mike, it's a whatever chance to come back and play again,' because that was just never an option. I wasn't going to let that happen. This staff wasn't going to let this happen.
"If anything, it was a problem that I dealt with for a while. It wasn't just this last season. It was years and years of playing football where I'm a tall, long guy, and I bend a lot for my job, and it takes a lot on your knees. So, if anything, it's going to help me on the back end of my career that I got a completely new quad tendon instead of the one with tendonitis and all that kind of stuff that comes with playing offensive line."
It was difficult for McGlinchey to sit and watch last season as his team advanced deep into the playoffs while falling just short of playing in their second Super Bowl in three seasons. But he feels his time away from the game will set him up for success this year and provided him with the chance to assess his physical fitness in a way he didn't have the opportunity to do earlier in his career.
"It's hard to miss time," McGlinchey said. "It's really hard to not be able to do what you love for I guess 10 or 12 weeks -- whatever they played after I got hurt. But at the same time, it's valuable, because I've also never had the time to focus completely for every aspect of my training for six straight months and what will end up being nine-ish months before I hit training camp again. So I'm excited to have the opportunity to have the best shape of my life going into training camp."
2022 will be an important season for McGlinchey, who is in the final year of his rookie contract after being selected by the 49ers in Round 1 of the 2018 NFL Draft. McGlinchey's performance this season will likely be a crucial factor in whether or not the 49ers decide to give him a new deal, but he's not heading into the season looking at it as a make-or-break situation. He'd prefer to resume his career with the 49ers after 2022, but it doesn't sound like he's putting too much pressure on himself to make that happen.
"I don't think anybody's ever indicated a prove-it year, and you can't operate that way," McGlinchey said. "That's just an unbelievable amount of pressure to put on yourself and to put on the team and to put on everything that's going on. In terms of myself, it's not in my control. I want to be here. I want to be a 49er. But at the end of the day, it's not going to be my decision. The only thing I can control is right now just training and when the fall comes, going out and playing the best football I can and let the chips fall as they may."