Tough Free Agent Tackle Choice

Free agency Bears choices at tackle, and more specifically right tackle, come down to a probable choice between two "McG" players.

The top two right tackles in free agency figure to be San Francisco's Mike McGlinchey and Atlanta's Kaleb McGary.

Atlanta could scuttle this choice by signing McGary and the Falcons have more ability to win a bidding war with the Bears than other teams since the Falcons have the second-most cap space.

However, assuming both get into the marketplace, it's a difficult choice.

Comparing the two to determine who the Bears might be better off pursuing is nearly a tossup. Age can't even be used as a determining factor because both are 28 years old.

It might come down to whether the Bears perceive McGary as starting to reach his peak now because of a superior 2022 as a run blocker, or whether they like McGlinchey because of his overall consistency based off of Pro Football Focus blocking grades in a five-year career.

There is no doubt McGlinchey has been part of one of the better offensive lines in the NFL over the last four seasons while this hasn't been the case for McGary. Still, Atlanta finished second to the Bears in rushing last year and McGary deserves some of the credit.

McGlinchey's strength overall has been regarded as run blocking, but in comparison with McGary he comes across overall as a better pass blocker. McGary has allowed 32 sacks and PFF gives him 139 pressures allowed. In the same time period, McGlinchey allowed 18 sacks and PFF says he gave up 99 pressures.

Using PFF grades, McGlinchey never rated below McGary in overall PFF grade until this past season. McGary was PFF's fourth-ranked tackle last year with an 86.6 overall rating and ranked No. 2 as a run blocker at 91.6. He graded out better then McGlinchey in every category, according to PFF.

McGlinchey in 2020 had a year not totally unlike McGary last year, as he had a run-blocking grade of 91.3 and was clearly better overall.

McGlinchey did start one year longer than McGary as starter and as a rookie in 2018 had his second-best run-blocking grade at 81.2.

The development of offensive linemen often requires two or three years and free agency could be a better option for the Bears than the draft even if it is much more costly.

There is no doubt PFF regards McGlinchey as a better player over the course of his career. They have him ranked as the 11th best free agent overall in this year's market and point to his passer-pressured allowed percentage, which has dropped from 6.1% to 5.1% the last two seasons.

McGlinchey is projected at 4 years and 15.5 million a year with 37.25 guaranteed by PFF while Spotrac.com puts it at $14.8 million per year.

McGary, is projected at four years and $13 million with $31 million guaranteed by PFF.

However, even the market evaluations on the two make it difficult to decide who is better. McGary is projected at $17.7 million a year by Spotrac.com.

Flip a coin?

McGlinchey-McGary Comparison

Year, Player, Team	PFF Grade	PFF Run-Blocking Grade	PFF Pass-Blocking Grade
2022 McGlinchey, SF	70.3	65.4	70.7
2022 McGary, ATL	86.6	66.9	91.6
2021 McGlinchey, SF	69.8	70.0	63.8
2021 McGary, ATL	62.8	50.6	72.2
2020 McGlinchey SF	79.6	58.3	91.3
2020 McGary, ATL	64.3	58.5	65.9
2019 McGlinchey SF	67.4	70.5	67.2
2019 McGary ATL	53.0	52.8	53.9
2018 McGlinchey, SF	74.8	64.2	81.2

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