Joe Staley’s long and winding road with the 49ers could fill a book. A 500-page book. It would be stuffed with stories of resilience, accomplishment, compassion, satisfaction, survival, redemption and hundreds of other tantalizing tales of spending 13 years in the NFL as one of the greatest offensive tackles of his era and, to be sure, one of the greatest players and human beings ever to grace the San Francisco franchise.
That’s Staley in a nutshell. But there’s no nutshell big enough to encase the true meaning and impact the congenial 6-foot-5, 300-pound veteran had on the only team he played for throughout his long and distinguished professional career.
Staley is truly one of a kind.
“He embodies absolutely everything about football that football should be about,” said All-Pro tight end George Kittle, who joined the 49ers in 2017 and quickly came to know what Staley is all about. “Everything Joe Staley has done, the things he’s shown me in the three years I got to play with him, just reinforced my love of football.”
Through six head coaches, four NFC Championship games, two Super Bowls, and multiple roster rebuilds, Staley had a prominent seat in the locomotive that steered the 49ers on a rollercoaster ride through years of torment and joy that saw the franchise sink to unprecedented depths while also reaching exciting new heights.
Staley was the only one around during that lengthy stretch to see it all, and as he leaves the team as an iconic figure in franchise lore, Staley will be remembered as a brilliant flash of light that continued to burn bright and illuminate the franchise better and longer than any other 49er of the 21st century.
He has touched all those around him with the 49ers, young and old, and new.
Denne historien er fra June/July 2020-utgaven av Niner Report.
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Denne historien er fra June/July 2020-utgaven av Niner Report.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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EIGHT IS ENOUGH
Set 49ers lineup still has several new starters
Calling all cornerbacks
Loss of Verrett exposes 49ers’ thin depth at CB
Always finding their way to run
49ers system accomplished at developing homegrown talent
ANOTHER COMEBACK?
Resilient veteran Verrett to miss rest of season
TOP 10 Rookie running backs
THE BACK LIST
STOCK UP STOCK DOWN
DEOMMODORE LENOIR | AMBRY THOMAS
Will Mostert run for 49ers again?
Raheem Mostert was primed this year to be the centerpiece of one of the NFL’s most dynamic offenses, featured as the lead performer in San Francisco’s grinding rushing attack while making his climb among the league’s top running backs.
THE WONDER OF WARNER
49ers make All-Pro star highest-paid LB in NFL
Making the right choice at QB
In the weeks that follow after you read this — and perhaps sometime even sooner than that — Kyle Shanahan and the rest of the 49ers organization will make a titanic decision that will have present, future and perhaps even everlasting implications for the franchise. It will chart the course for the team’s pivotal 2021 season while determining whether San Francisco really does have the juice to return to powerhouse status and again be considered a legitimate contender to get back to the Super Bowl.
TOP 10 Linebacker seasons
Fred Warner vaulted to stardom with a spectacular 2020 season — and the 49ers rewarded him this summer with a $95.225 million deal that makes him the highest-paid inside linebacker in NFL history. By today’s standards, Warner’s performance last year was worth the money as he posted an Approximate Value of 19 — matching the highest score ever recorded by a San Francisco defender according to a Pro Football Reference formula that puts a single number on each player-season across all positions since 1960. Patrick Willis and NaVorro Bowman (twice) also had seasons with an AV of 19 as they dominate this list of the greatest individual seasons by a linebacker in 49ers history.
