The San Francisco 49ers said goodbye to a franchise legend in left tackle Joe Staley last weekend after replacing him with seven-time Pro Bowler Trent Williams, acquired in a stunning trade with Washington.
It was one of the savviest moves any team made during the 2020 NFL Draft.
49ers right tackle Mike McGlinchey, talking about saying goodbye to one of his favorite teammates, succinctly and perfectly summed up the exchange:
In all truth, the 49ers may have landed an upgrade replacing Staley with Williams.
Speaking about his good friend on Tuesday, McGlinchey shared that he had “a strong sense” Staley could retire after talking to him a few weeks after the 49ers lost Super Bowl LIV.
The timeline of events on Saturday showed that Staley did the 49ers a big favor by withholding his retirement announcement until after the team pulled off the stunning trade for Williams.
Clearly, that was done on purpose, and it helped Staley’s team tremendously as it prepares for the tough task of getting back to a Super Bowl after losing to the Kansas City Chiefs in February.