“Joe Staley is the type of player we want to continue to add to this football team,” said general manager Scot McCloughan. “He’s a tough, versatile, no-nonsense type of guy who wants to do whatever it takes to help his team win football games. Joe is a consummate team player and has been completely unselfish in the way he has approached his role on this team. We know what he means to the success of the 49ers and getting this extension done puts us in a very nice position for the future.”
Staley was drafted by the 49ers in 2007 and has been solid at the tackle position since his rookie year. Staley and linebacker Patrick Willis (also drafted in 2007) have started every game since their rookie year.
An extension that takes him to the 2017 season definitely shows me that the team understands Staley's worth as a tackle. Especially now since the team has had issues at the right tackle position, they know they have a solid left tackle for many years to come. And if the team does need to move Staley back to the right tackle position (where he started his rookie year), they know they have experience in Staley to make such a move.
Staley now enters his third year and already may be one of the most consistent players on the team. Especially now since the 49ers will add a new running game, Staley's role will be extremely important in sustaining Jimmy Raye's new offense.
And at least for me, the 49ers are giving me a good idea of what they envision for the team in the long run. I'm very pleased to see that Staley will be around for a while.
Comments
Loyalty goes a long way to building a playoff team! This is great, good read.
And more importantly than anything else, this just tells us that the team believes in what Staley can do and what he means to the organization. I hope the next person to get this is Patrick Willis. He has been nothing but solid since Day One.
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