Former Bobcat One Step Away from Super Bowl
By Danny Waldo
Growing up in Glendive, Montana, the thought of playing in the world’s most prestigious football game is beyond most young boy’s wildest imaginations.
But that thought is about to become a reality for former Montana State offensive lineman Mike Person, as the San Francisco 49ers are just one win away from playing in Super Bowl LIV. Person, who starts at right guard for San Francisco, has helped bolster one of the most potent offenses in the league in leading the 49ers to a 13-3 regular season record, which secured home field advantage throughout the playoffs, a feature that helped lead them to a 27-10 thrashing of Minnesota in the Divisional Round, and no doubt will play a role in the NFC Championship on January 19th.
This is Person’s second stint with the 49ers. He was originally drafted by San Francisco in the seventh round in 2011 following a highly decorated career at Montana State. But his time in the NFL has been anything but smooth up to this point in his career. He has bounced between six teams, including the Colts, Chiefs, Falcons, Rams and Seahawks, and as recently as 2017 he thought his career might have been over as he was an unsigned free agent. But, the team that originally drafted him in San Francisco liked what they saw of his tape from his most recent stop in Atlanta and offered him a tryout heading into the 2018 season. He parlayed that opportunity into a lucrative three-year, $8.2 million dollar deal with $3 million guaranteed after starting all 16 games in 2018, playing through a myriad of injuries in doing so.
“Mike earned the respect of everyone in our building for the way he battled through injury last season to start all 16 games and perform the way he did,” GM John Lynch said in a team press release.
Now, Person is close to achieving his dream of playing in his first Super Bowl after missing out on three previous Super Bowl contending teams following his releases in San Francisco in 2012, Seattle in 2013, and Atlanta in 2016.
“There’s always that little bug in the back of my head that serves as extra motivation for me — not that you need more motivation to make the Super Bowl. But it would really mean a lot after the journey that my wife (Kelly) and I have been through. Hopefully we can take care of business and get there.”
