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49ers go for offense, grab OT Mike McGlinchey with 9th pick

McGlinchey was the consensus top tackle available in the draft. He started 29 games on the left side over the past two seasons but will most likely play on the right side in the NFL. San Francisco has six-time Pro Bowl left tackle Joe Staley, who is the longest-tenured player on the 49ers.
(Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — The San Francisco 49ers drafted Notre Dame offensive tackle Mike McGlinchey with the ninth overall pick Thursday night.

McGlinchey was the consensus top tackle available in the draft. He started 29 games on the left side over the past two seasons but will most likely play on the right side in the NFL. San Francisco has six-time Pro Bowl left tackle Joe Staley, who is the longest-tenured player on the 49ers.

The pick was somewhat surprising because many speculated that general manager John Lynch and coach Kyle Shanahan would continue to target the defense.

For a while, it appeared that middle linebacker Roquan Smith might fall into San Francisco's lap. But Smith was drafted by the Chicago Bears with the eighth pick and the 49ers went with McGlinchey.

Even McGlinchey was caught off guard. After being picked, he told reporters that he hadn't spoken with the 49ers since a formal interview at the scouting combine.

The 6-foot-8, 309-pound McGlinchey played both tackle positions with the Irish before settling in at left tackle as a junior. He was projected to be one of the top left tackles in 2017 but he returned to Notre Dame and improved his stock.

With the 49ers, McGlinchey is expected to push Trent Brown for the starting right tackle job. Brown, a seventh-round pick in 2015, has had an up-and-down career with San Francisco and suffered a torn labrum in his shoulder last November.

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