There’s a good chance the 49ers will be without starting right tackle Mike McGlinchey at the beginning of 2022, prompting some contingency plans and options.
It’s a damned shame San Francisco 49ers right tackle Mike McGlinchey suffered a torn quad smack in the middle of the Niners’ 2021 regular-season campaign.
For starters, McGlinchey showed some notable improvement over the so-so efforts he displayed the year before, particularly in pass protection. And while San Francisco has yet to offer him an extension beyond his original rookie contract signed when he was drafted in Round 1 back in 2018, it did pick up his fifth-year option for 2022.
However, McGlinchey could have turned all of last season into a massive campaign effort to justify a new contract beyond the upcoming year.
Now, he might need 2022 to save his job with the 49ers.
While general manager John Lynch was originally optimistic about McGlinchey’s subsequent surgery and recovery, the raw nature of the injury is a serious one. And to cap off some of those concerns about his recovery, McGlinchey’s recent social media post on Twitter revealed a notably lighter right tackle than his playing weight of 310 pounds from a year ago:
Join me to support Special Olympics Northern California at the Silicon Valley Bocce Bash fundraiser on May 5 in Los Gatos.
— Mike McGlinchey (@mmcglinch68) April 8, 2022
I'm proud to be the co-chair for this event & we'll have a blast!
Proceeds support programs for local Special Olympics. https://t.co/9RXZT1GIq0 pic.twitter.com/AYE6I2kAOX
Again, it’s not worth diving too deep into this. McGlinchey likely couldn’t work out and lift weights in the same manner he otherwise would if his quad muscle hadn’t completely separated from the bone. And with the 2022 regular season not kicking off until September, he has plenty of time to get his playing weight up to its ideal 300-plus pound mark.
That won’t be an easy task, though.
So, if McGlinchey isn’t close to starting in the regular season, what contingency plans will the Niners have?
Let’s take a look.
49ers contingency plan No. 3: Go with on-roster options
This is essentially what San Francisco was forced to do in the immediate aftermath of Mike McGlinchey tearing his quad after just eight games played in 2022.
However, the chief replacement player the 49ers deployed once he suffered his injury was now-Denver Broncos swing tackle Tom Compton, who held his own in run support but was still a liability in pass protection.
The fact Compton was able to beat out younger options, such as Colton McKivitz and then-rookie Jaylon Moore, probably says more about the latter two than it does about Compton.
With Compton gone, the Niners have the following options to fill in at right tackle:
- Jaylon Moore
- Colton McKivitz
- Justin Skule
Skule, who missed 2021 with a torn ACL, has doubled in for McGlinchey in the past, so that might be an option. Same with right guard Daniel Brunskill bumping outside, provided San Francisco identifies a replacement inside.
This might be the route the 49ers take if McGlinchey isn’t expected to be absent for a terribly long time, perhaps four weeks or less to begin the year.
49ers contingency plan No. 2: Peruse the NFL free agency wire
The first and second waves of NFL free agency are long finished, and it’s likely most teams are waiting to figure out what happens in the upcoming 2022 NFL Draft before making any more splash signings.
However, there’s still a notable list of free-agent tackles out there, and the Niners could possibly look at grabbing someone on the cheap as a would-be Mike McGlinchey replacement, or at the very least, a veteran to compete with the aforementioned names on the previous slide for a swing-tackle role.
Granted, none of these free-agent names are going to get fans excited:
- Bryan Bulaga
- Riley Reiff
- Marcus Cannon
- Mike Remmers
- Bobby Massie
- Dennis Kelly
Read More: Predicting Niners 2022 offensive line (with draft picks mixed in)
But that’s not the point here. San Francisco might only be looking for a stopgap option to fill in the role, especially if McGlinchey is going to be out for a lengthier period of time.
However, given the 49ers haven’t made any such signings despite their lowish amount of cap space ($1.7 million), it probably suggests they’re either comfortable with McGlinchey’s recovery prospects or are looking at the third and final contingency plan instead.
49ers contingency plan No. 1: Find Mike McGlinchey’s replacement in 2022 NFL Draft
Even if Mike McGlinchey is fully recovered by Week 1, or even close to it, it wouldn’t be completely shocking to see the Niners look at the upcoming 2022 NFL Draft for a replacement.
As noted earlier, McGlinchey is entering a contract year. And while he showed some modest improvement from 2020 into the first half of 2021, it surely wasn’t enough to completely warrant San Francisco going all out to extend him on a lucrative deal once the upcoming year expires.
With a ton of money already committed to All-Pro left tackle Trent Williams, the 49ers may already be forced to engage on the cheap on the opposite end, even if it means paying McGlinchey the fully guaranteed $10.88 million while using what’d likely be a day-two draft pick on his replacement.
The Niners are without a first-round pick in this year’s draft, in case you forgot.
Some names to watch for San Francisco might include:
- Darian Kinnard, Kentucky
- Abraham Lucas, Washington State
- Tyler Smith, Tulsa
- Sean Rhyan, UCLA
- Daniel Faalele, Minnesota
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While a bit more outlandish, surely if McGlinchey isn’t healthy, the 49ers could feasibly look to trade him to a tackle-needy team, much like how they did back in 2018 with then-right tackle Trent Brown a day after McGlinchey was drafted.
We won’t get that far down the rabbit hole, though, and McGlinchey would need to pass a physical, which is just as big a question mark. But it’s food for thought.
Instead, the bigger scenario would be the 49ers simply finding his replacement now, possibly pegging that rookie as a day-one starter if McGlinchey is still on the mend.