Mike McGlinchey is Pro Football Focus' top-graded rookie NFL tackle. In fact, he's the top-graded rookie offensive lineman. The San Francisco 49ers tackle hears about those grades from family and friends and is appreciative, but he doesn't read into them too much.
"I don't know how they grade their system because I don't know how they would understand my assignments or anything like that," McGlinchey said during a Wednesday-morning KNBR interview on the "Murph & Mac" show. "Obviously, I know when I've played well and when I haven't played well and things that I need to improve on. I'm not sure what they do to do that.
"Obviously, it's nice to see that people are complimenting you, but you can't buy too much stock in it because it will just get you tripped up in the long run."
Some might remember former 49ers head coach Chip Kelly having similar thoughts about Pro Football Focus and its grading system.
As for McGlinchey, his focus this week is taking down the Seattle Seahawks and getting the 49ers their third win of the season. The rookie is preparing for his first trip to CenturyLink Field and the difficult environment associated with it.
"I have heard about it," McGlinchey said. "I've heard about the 12th Man even before I was a 49er. My cousin Matt (Ryan of the Atlanta Falcons) had a couple of runs in Seattle in playoff games and stuff like that. He would tell us stories about how loud it is up there.
"It's just another added factor to a football game. It's just going to make it that much harder to hear, and hear the snap count, hear communications, calls up front. I've played in loud places before. I'm interested to see how loud it does get because I've played in some pretty loud college stadiums.
"I'm excited for it. It's one of those places in the NFL that people get up to play for. It's an exciting spot. It's known for how crazy it is up there. It's exciting. It's why you play football."
Of course, no interview this week would be complete without asking about the impact of the Reuben Foster situation. The second-year linebacker was arrested on Saturday night in Tampa, Florida and the 49ers announced his release the next morning.
"Obviously, it's tough," McGlinchey said. "We're not even looking about it as a football standpoint. It's tough to see a guy like that, who you do love and you do go to work with each week, struggle with such things. Unfortunately, Reuben, during his time here, didn't get the job done in his personal life that needed to be done for us to continue to have success with him moving forward as a 49er.
"It's unfortunate. We all feel for Reuben but, at this time, he's no longer a part of our organization, and we're here to continue to prepare, and get the next man in, and look forward to Seattle."
You can listen to the entire conversation with McGlinchey below.