INDIANAPOLIS — The 49ers are fully prepared to lose right tackle Mike McGlinchey this offseason on the free-agent market.
General manager John Lynch, speaking with Bay Area media members at the NFL Scouting Combine on Tuesday, made it clear he expects McGlinchey to cash in with a contract that will make it unlikely he remains with the organization.
“Could he miss his market? Sure,” Lynch said. “Then would we be interested? Of course we would.
“But I don’t see that happening. I see him being a coveted player.”
The 49ers selected McGlinchey with the No. 9 overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. Over the course of five seasons, McGlinchey started all 69 regular-season games and six postseason games in which he appeared.
McGlinchey earned nearly $11 million last season playing on the fifth-year option, and he is expected to receive a lucrative, multi-year contract as an unrestricted free agent.
Left tackle Trent Williams is the 49ers’ highest-paid player, and Lynch suggested it would be difficult for the team to justify paying top dollar for another offensive tackle.
San Francisco 49ers
The 49ers enter the offseason with approximately $8 million in cap room.
“So when you have Trent and the way our team is comprised, the reality is it’s just a tough deal for us,” Lynch said. “It stinks, but . . . “
Lynch said it was difficult in the past to not re-sign such players as defensive tackle D.J. Jones and guard Laken Tomlinson.
However, the 49ers have also received compensatory draft picks as a result. This year, the 49ers are expected to receive compensatory in the fifth, sixth and seventh rounds due to net free-agent losses.
“You have to have the patience and the vision to allow some of these guys to walk,” Lynch said. “We get the comp picks as a result and play that game.
“We’ve tried to understand that you can’t just go full throttle and get some rewards if you have a little more discipline. It’s never easy, but it is necessary.”
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Lynch said he believes McGlinchey has earned a contract that ranks among the top right tackles in the game despite what he labeled as “bad Twitter clips.”
“He’s a really good football player,” Lynch said. “So while a lot of people in our area focused on what he didn’t do or his bad snaps, Mike, the totality of his game at right tackle where there’s a couple of elite ones — the Lane Johnsons of the world — he’s right behind them, in my mind.”