(Photo by Michael Zagaris/San Francisco 49ers/Getty Images)
Mike McGlinchey’s got some big shoes to fill, and not just on the football field.
The 49ers’ standout right tackle will replace Joe Staley as 107.7 The Bone’s weekly 49ers guest, joining Lamont & Tonelli every Thursday at 6:45 a.m.
Entering his third year in the NFL, McGlinchey burst onto the scene after being selected by the 49ers in the first-round of the 2018 Draft. McGlinchey earned All-Rookie Team honors that season, and immediately became one of the most popular players in the locker room.
McGlinchey also sparked a close friendship with Staley, a player he admired growing up. So much so, that McGlinchey wore Staley’s No. 74 in high school, a fact that led to a funny moment when Staley saw the jersey hanging up at McGlinchey’s house.
“He looked at me funny and he’s like ‘What’s that about?’” McGlinchey recalled of the moment Staley saw the jersey. “I was like ‘Nothing.’ And I didn’t tell him the story until later until we got to know each other a little better.”
“I gave him so much (crap) about it,” Staley said with a smile. “I was like ‘Dude, I didn’t know I was your hero.’”
McGlinchey has started all 28 games he’s appeared in as a member of the 49ers, and is hoping to bounce back after a season in which he missed four games due to injury. Before 2019, McGlinchey had never missed a single game of organized football due to injury, and once played through a broken hand in college.
McGlinchey is also the cousin of Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan, who won an MVP with Kyle Shanahan as his offensive coordinator in 2016.
Besides football, the 6-foot-8 McGlinchey is an excellent basketball player, and once even contemplated playing the sport at his alma mater of Notre Dame.
One fun fact native Californian’s might not love? McGlinchey isn’t exactly enamored with In-N-Out Burger.
“I think of the three that are comparable, I guess it’s like Five Guys, What-A-Burger and In-And-Out, are kind of all the same type of deal, I would say Five Guys is probably my favorite out of all of those. I don’t know. I liked the burger at In-And-Out. The burger was good, it was just the other stuff around it that didn’t give me the full package.”
That’s okay Mike, we’ll give you a pass this one time.