Getty Javon Kinlaw during 49ers July 31, 2021 minicamp.
Someone on the San Francisco 49ers has witnessed first hand how much Javon Kinlaw has grinded this offseason — all in the attempt to return from a devastating knee injury that wiped out his 2021 season.
But that someone isn’t anyone who posted his workouts and other training sessions on film for social media. It’s instead a man who has been in the weight room with Kinlaw: Right tackle Mike McGlinchey.
In a one-on-one interview with Brad Graham of thesfniners.com released on Tuesday, July 19, the starting right tackle shared some updates involving where the health of the 2020 first rounder is. Long story short, McGlinchey shared this stirring prediction of how Kinlaw’s 2022 season will go with Graham:
“Expect big things from Javon,” McGlinchey predicted. “I think he’s going to have an unbelievable year. He’s ready to go.”
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‘He Hit the Ground Running’
Kinlaw’s season was cut short in October 2021 when he went down with his ACL tear. He was ruled inactive for the October 24, 2021 Sunday Night Football game versus the Indianapolis Colts, then ultimately got placed on injured reserve.
Because of his knee ailments, Kinlaw has only appeared in 18 games with the 49ers after going in the top 15 of the 2020 draft. However, McGlinchey told Graham that Kinlaw “hit the ground running” with his rehab.
“It’s been pretty much just me and Javon since January in the weight room,” McGlinchey told Graham. “He came back towards the end of the season as I was kind of getting ready to travel. I think he was in L.A. for a little bit of the first part of his rehab. But when he got back, he hit the ground running, man.”
‘He is Freaky Looking’
The 27-year-old McGlinchey himself is coming back from his own knee injury that sidelined him for the final nine games of the regular season. He’ll look to play a full regular season for the third time in his career this fall (played and started in all 16 games his rookie season in 2018 and in 2020).
But again, he’s been in awe with the work ethic of Kinlaw in his comeback attempt — even admitting to Graham that he’s amazed by how Kinlaw looks and transformed himself.
“I’ve never seen a human being look like him. He is freaky looking — in the best way possible,” McGlinchey said. “He’s gearing up for a hell of a year. Unbelievably motivated, unbelievably determined to prove that he’s a great football player, which we all know he is already.”
Overall, McGlinchey is proud to see how Kinlaw has approached his rehab by becoming someone in the facility every single day.
“I couldn’t be prouder of him and the way that he’s developed. Not only his physical sense and the way he’s trained but how he’s become such a pro” McGlinchey said. “He’s there every single day at the same time, putting his work in as hard as he can, and competing with me, competing with everybody else that’s training there, and being so diligent about his career.”
McGlinchey added “And the maturity that he’s shown in this last year or so, I could not be prouder of him.”