"I only knew Joe as the football player," Garoppolo said. "We pulled up to that Sharks game and it was him and Grace. They walked over and Joe was like 'Hey, Jimmy. How are you? It's great to see you. How's your day going?' as proper as I've ever heard him. I was like 'what the heck is going on here?' And then the rest of the night he was just the nicest guy in the world. I mean, not saying he's not nice all the time, but he's just 'Joe-dad.'"

At the 49ers team facility, that was his time to work. Of course, there's always time for Joe to slide in a joshing quip or two, especially when it comes to right tackle Mike McGlinchey. The two immediately hit it off when San Francisco selected the Notre Dame product in the first round of the 2018 draft. They have built a unique relationship anchored by their near-identical "rambunctious" personalities. Staley, 10 years McGlinchey's senior, has formed a big brother-little brother relationship, where the tandem bickers like actual siblings and can turn around and laugh like best friends in the same sitting.

"If I have a moment where I do something stupid, he takes it personal as if it's on him as well. And he'll correct me just like that," McGlinchey said of his teammate. "It's a leadership quality. He's been a captain here for almost the last decade. He's got those kinds of qualities that he instills here in us and that probably carry over as a father."