Few people know more about the attrition and challenges of life as an NFL tackle like Joe Staley. The 13-year NFL veteran, a 6-time Pro Bowler and member of the 2010s All-Decade team as a career 49er joined Papa & Lund on Monday to talk all things 49ers.
He was asked about his former tackle partner and good friend, Mike McGlinchey. McGlinchey was beaten badly on a couple of occasions this weekend by Frank Clark and especially Chris Jones.
A theme for McGlinchey in his career is that he’s been excellent in the run game, but sometimes struggled to anchor against bull rushes. He put on weight before last season in an effort to combat that before getting back to his normal playing weight this season.
Staley said the most important thing for McGlinchey is to be honest, self-critical and be open to getting beat in practice to learn from mistakes.
“This has been an issue for the last three or four years,” Staley said. “He’s been struggling with it for a while, how to stop the ball rush. Guys that are bigger get into his chest.
“It’s got to come on the practice field, identifying the issues that are wrong. Being open and willing to fail in practice, to figure out what the right solution is. It’s not about just winning every single rep in practice and making sure you don’t get yelled at by a coach or you get yelled at by a teammate or player. It’s about being on the practice with a diligent work ethic and figuring out what an issue is and it could be anything.”
Staley, who has worked with some of the top rookie tackles leading up to the NFL draft over the last few seasons, says they often ask him if there are any tricks to correcting issues.
He suggest to McGlinchey, as he suggests to them, that there’s no quick solution. He says linemen have to be “willing and able to fail in practice,” and learn from those failures.
“There’s no secret to what a fix is,” Staley said. “There’s no fix to what’s going to make you a great player. What makes you a great player is being open and honest, willing to take criticism, open and honest to actually put in the work and to be on the field consistently and just rep it out over and over and over.
“And when I got to be 10-12 years of my career and have a lot of young guys would ask me what’s the secret? Like there’s none. It’s work. You ask anybody that’s had a long career in NFL, what’s the secret? It’s nothing. It’s work. You just continue to work put in the work and be open and honest with yourself.”
This is a point in McGlinchey’s career, Staley said, that’s crucial.
McGlinchey is playing out his fifth-year option, coming off a torn quad recovery and will be a free agent this offseason. It’s unclear whether he’ll be back with the 49ers or what his market will look like.
Staley believes McGlinchey has the capacity to and will put in the work to correct his mistakes.
“I think Mike’s in that situation where he’s in year five, he’s having sometimes an issue with the situation of bull rush or whatever it is, gets in his own head and he’s got to be open and honest with his own self assessment and then move forward and fix it,” Staley said. “And Mike’s, like I said, a dear friend, but he’s had some ups and he’s had some downs.”
“I think if he wants to take that next step as being a player that’s gonna be a long-term person in the NFL, then he’s got to be open to be criticized. He’s got to be open and be self-critical of his own play and then do the work, which I know he’s going to and I know he does.”
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