Despite signing a tall offensive lineman prior to the NFC Championship Game, the San Francisco 49ers will not use him until the following season.
Isaac Alarcon, a 6-foot-7, 320-pound offensive tackle who was previously with the Dallas Cowboys, inked a reserve/future deal with the 49ers on Tuesday. In the four years since he joined the Cowboys in 2020, Alarcon has been a member of the practice squad.
Alarcon, a native of Mexico, was acquired by Dallas in 2020 through the NFL’s International Player Pathway Program. Alarcon attempted to switch positions to defensive tackle in 2023 prior to the season, but he was never promoted from the practice squad to the active team.
Alarcon was waived by the Cowboys in August 2023 at the final roster cuts, and he was never added to the practice squad of another team. Alarcon formerly attended Monterrey Institute of Technology in Mexico as a collegiate football player.
Alfredo Gutierrez of the 49ers and Isaac Alarcon are “close friends.”
Alfredo Gutierrez, the 49ers’ offensive tackle, is a face that Alarcon is familiar with. Along with winning a Mexican national championship in 2019 while playing together at ITESM, Gutierrez also signed with the 49ers and the NFL via the IPPP.
According to David Lombardi of The Athletic, Gutierrez stated, “We are really close friends.” “We keep in touch a lot.”
Despite being designated for the practice squad, Gutierrez has only participated in preseason play and has not yet appeared in a regular season game. Since 2021, Gutierrez has been a member of the 49ers practice squad.
San Francisco also has a significant amount of height in Gutierrez. He weighs 332 pounds and is 6 feet 9 inches tall.
With his “tremendous physical tools,” Isaac Alarcon
Even though there weren’t many IPP players on rosters in 2023, Alacron has special physical abilities that might help him in the future.
According to pro linemen coach Duke Manyweather, Alacron “has tremendous physical tools and is a quick learner” (A to Z Sports Dallas, 2021).
According to Maurigio Rodriguez of A to Z Sports, Manyweather coaches offensive tackles Terron Armstead of the Miami Dolphins and Lane Johnson of the Philadelphia Eagles. Manweather, a well-known linemen coach at the time, finds Alacron, one of his clients, appealing.
Manyweather said to Rodriguez in 2021, “Isaac also possesses some traits and movement skills that are extremely rare for a man his size.”
Rodriguez mentioned that Alarcon was given the moniker “The Great Isaac” by Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott after he caught his eye. According to Alarcon, though they weren’t disclosed, they had multiple nicknames for one another, as reported by former DallasCowboys.com reporter Brianna Dix in 2021.
“The NFL is filled with tremendous freaky athletes and ridiculous talent, no matter of his path and origin… Isaac is one of those freaks,” Manyweather said via Rodriguez.
“It’s Definitely More Fun Chasing the Quarterback,” says Isaac Alarcon
Alarcon might play defensive lineman after learning the position with the Cowboys last season, even though the 49ers have him classified as an offensive lineman in the transaction report.
“It’s a more athletic [position],” Alarcon told DallasCowboys.com’s Patrik Walker in June 2023. “Having played offensive lineman the last three seasons, I understand what this looks like [from the other side]. I just have to make the [transition] to making these [new] looks, and to be more athletic — to bend myself more and learn the [new] moves while getting up to the right speed is the challenge.”
Alarcon quipively said, “It’s definitely more fun chasing the quarterback.”