Where Does Staley Rate Among Best?

Joe Staley may not be the best offensive tackle ever to don the red and gold for the 49ers.

- Craig Massei

But give him a few more years, and he might be. Staley’s name already must be included in any conversation regarding the top tackles in franchise history. Staley clearly has established himself as one of the very best, leaving no question he stands among San Francisco’s all-time elite during his decade of excellence as one of the team’s premier front-line starters.

“He’s definitely the best of this millennium,” 49ers historian Donnan Sinn told The Niner Report.

He’s probably the best going back even further than that. As Staley hits the 10-year milestone with the 49ers, his body of work leaves him near the top of the team’s all-time list.

But not yet at the very top, said Sinn, who began following the 49ers in the mid-1950s and has developed a vast knowledge of the team and its history ever since as he’s chronicled the team’s past.

“Bob St. Clair stood head and shoulders above everybody else,” Sinn said. “What he accomplished with the 49ers has stood the test of time.”

The colorful 6-foot-9 St. Clair, who played all 12 of his NFL seasons in San Francisco from 19531964, is considered an iconic legend in team lore. A nine-time All-Pro, St. Clair is the only offensive tackle to represent the San Francisco franchise in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

“That’s gotta count,” Sinn said. But Staley can make an argument for stacking up right behind St. Clair. And, at age 32, Staley still is at the top of his game as one of San Francisco’s best players of today and could have several more seasons ahead of him at that level.

“I would say he’s among the top five right now,” Sinn said. “He could go possibly as high as No. 3.”

Could Staley someday end his career with a reputation as the best offensive tackle in the franchise’s 70-years-plus history?