49ers’ LT Joe Staley Not Considering Retirement

The 49ers have had a great year, but San Francisco stalwart Joe Staley has had to watch most of it from the sidelines. Between a broken fibula and a dislocated finger, the 35-year-old left tackle has played in just seven games this season, and given his age and the injuries, some have wondered if he might consider retirement after the season.

If the 49ers capture the Lombardi Trophy, which is really the only goal that Staley has not achieved in his long and illustrious career, one would think that retirement might be even more attractive. But Staley himself recently indicated that he has no intention of retiring, as Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle writes.

“I don’t know why everyone’s been asking me that question,” Staley said. “Because I got injured, everyone’s like, ‘Oh, you’re going to be retiring now.'” He added,“I signed a contract here. I still love playing football. It’s like the ninth time someone’s asked me that, and I’m starting to wonder why.”

Branch says that Staley was in a good humor when he made those comments, but his point was clear: he remains under contract through 2021, so he will at least play through the end of next year.

To be fair, reports in April 2019 indicated that Staley, the 28th-overall pick of the 2007 draft, was undecided on playing in 2020. But he signed an extension shortly thereafter, and his injury-plagued season has been an anomaly. He missed just four games from 2011-18 and was named to five Pro Bowls in that span.

And while he did not look much like himself during the games he did play in 2019, the season finale against the Seahawks, which secured the No. 1 seed in the NFC for the 49ers, was his best performance of the year, and he may be returning to form at just the right time. The 49ers host the Vikings in a divisional-round bout on Saturday.