SF 49ers: 5 players who can now safely be called ‘busts’
By Peter Panacy
No. 1: SF 49ers Offensive Tackle Mike McGlinchey
The No. 1 player on this list isn’t a bust because he’s purely a bad player. Rather offensive tackle Mike McGlinchey makes this list because he hasn’t developed into the anchor piece along the offensive line after the SF 49ers used the No. 9 overall pick on him in the 2018 NFL Draft.
San Francisco 49ers
Top-10 offensive linemen are supposed to be those cornerstone players. The idea for the Niners was to develop McGlinchey and eventually move him from right tackle to left once the veteran, Joe Staley, retired.
Well, that never happened. McGlinchey’s pass-protection woes, which were evident in college at Notre Dame, are bad enough to keep him from protecting the San Francisco quarterbacks’ blind sides. And while few collegiate O-linemen perform well in both run blocking and pass protection, the lack of development in the latter category suggests McGlinchey is faring little better as a pro than he did his rookie season two years ago.
His lowly 59.1 pass-blocking grade from Pro Football Focus is evidence enough.
The SF 49ers have a tough decision to face with McGlinchey in 2021, a contract year should they elect not to pick up his fully guaranteed fifth-year option in 2022. Yet with other serious concerns on the O-line heading into the offseason, the Niners may have no other choice but to remain invested in McGlinchey and use their draft assets to solve other problems.
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Either way, it’s a shame McGlinchey never turned into that anchor point San Francisco hoped he’d become.