Longtime San Francisco 49ers offensive tackle Joe Staley plans to return to the NFC West franchise for the 2020 NFL season, making it his 14th professional season. Staley, who turns 36 years young in August before the season, was selected in the first round by the 49ers in the 2007 draft out of Central Michigan and has been with the club ever since, turning into a six-time Pro Bowl offensive lineman and stalwart presence protecting various quarterbacks.

According to 49ers general manager John Lynch, per NBC Sports Bay Area's Matt Maiocco, Staley did not tell the team he's retiring, and all indications are the veteran tackle is returning in 2020.

“We’ve kept in good contact with Joe,” Lynch said on a video conference call Monday with the team’s beat writers. “He’s doing his typical routine down with his family in San Diego working out. We’re encouraged. We’ve heard nothing that would lead us to believe that Joe is not going to play. So we’re encouraged with that. We’ll see where that goes.

“That is something with each and every player, particularly as they get closer, you give them that time that they need. But we are encouraged that Joe will be a part of us, moving forward.”

Staley signed a two-year extension with the 49ers in June 2019, setting the table for the potential for the Pro-Bowler to play in the Bay Area at 37 years old in 2021. Nonetheless, San Francisco could select an offensive tackle in Thursday's forthcoming 2020 NFL Draft, which would only serve to believe he would be a successor to the respected veteran Staley.