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In less than an hour, the 2020 NFL Draft will begin, and for the first time, it will be done completely virtually. NBC Sports’ Matt Maiocco joined KNBR to discuss his thoughts on the draft and how the 49ers could approach it.
Early on, he was asked about the possibility of Joe Staley returning to the 49ers, at the 7:08 mark.
“I sure as heck wouldn’t say that [he’s returning],” Maiocco said. “I think it’s highly possible that four of those guys [the 49ers would draft at No. 13 for] are offensive tackles and if one of those guys is there, they could take him. What John Lynch said about Joe Staley was kind of a non-denial denial. ‘We haven’t heard that he’s not coming back.’ Which is a lot different than, ‘We’ve heard he’s coming back.’ So I don’t know that Staley will be back this year. I kind of doubt it. But even if he is back this year, how much longer? It’s only going to be one year, I think we pretty much know that. So I think the time is now to take that offensive tackle.”
Staley has two years remaining on his recently-signed extension which runs through 2021. Here was Lynch’s direct answer from his Monday press conference:
“Yeah, I did leave you with that at the Combine and it’s been a while, but we’ve kept in good contact with Joe,” Lynch said. “He’s doing his typical routine down with this family in San Diego, working out and we’re encouraged. We’ve heard nothing that would lead us to believe that Joe’s not going to play. So, we are encouraged with that. We’ll see where that goes. That is something with each and every player particularly as they get closer, you give them that time that they need, but we are encouraged that Joe’s going to be a part of us moving forward.”