Niners’ Joe Staley Is No Lightweight

Before the 2018 regular season begins, 49ers left tackle Joe Staley will turn 34.He's played 11 seasons in the NFL for a total of 158 games. That's a lot of banging and pounding on — and being pounded by — enormous defensive linemen.Yet Staley plans to play at least two more seasons with the 49ers, and the team is eager to have him, having restructured his deal this offseason through the 2019 season in a move that reportedly will pay him more than $8 million in both 2018 and 2019. The Niners see him as a key factor in the success of the offense as the blind-side protector of quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, a mobile and athletic blocker in the run game and a leader on the offensive line. Last season, general manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan saw Staley play at a very high level, especially late in the season, and earn a trip to the Pro Bowl.It's quite a testament to Staley, a six-time Pro Bowl pick, that he remains in the top-echelon of NFL offensive tackles after all these years.Part of the reason, Staley says, is his decision early in his career to focus on being fit and quick rather than bulky. Staley told Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee this week that...