San Francisco 49ers: It’s time to give in and trade Robbie Gould

San Francisco 49ers kicker Robbie Gould is still yet to sign his franchise tag and his status remains up in the air. What’s the latest on his current situation?

The San Francisco 49ers have had the luxury of rostering one of the premier kickers in the entire NFL over the past two seasons in Robbie Gould. Unfortunately, his success hasn’t exactly led to much team success.

But that shouldn’t take away from the fact that Gould has been nearly automatic when kicking for three points. Since 2016, Gould has made 82-of-85 field-goal attempts for an astounding average of 96.5%.

From 50 yards or more, Gould has been perfect connecting on all six of his attempts. And while in a 49ers uniform, Gould has missed just three of his 75 attempts.

But despite his success in the red and gold, Gould has grown increasingly unhappy with his tenure and has made it clear that he has no intentions of playing in San Francisco in 2019. That likely doesn’t have as much to do with the 49ers as it does with Gould’s desire to play near his family.

Essentially, this is an “it’s not you, it’s me” scenario.

Gould’s family still resides in Chicago where he spent the first 11 years of his career. The 36-year-old made his name kicking for the Bears quickly establishing himself as one of the premier kickers in the league during his time in the Windy City.

Gould is still the Bears’ all-time leader in points scored with 1,207 and with Chicago’s recent kicking woes, a reunion makes a ton of sense. While Gould hasn’t outright stated his desire to return specifically to Chicago, it’s pretty clear that that would be his preferred choice.

Basically, he wants to play somewhere near his family. And San Francisco is unfortunately nowhere near Chicago.

The deadline for franchise-tagged players to sign long-term deals is this Monday, but at this point, it’s unlikely that the 49ers could convince him to do so.

The best-case scenario for Gould would be for the 49ers to trade him to Chicago (or elsewhere) before Monday so that he could sign a long-term deal with his new team.

But the question remains — how long are the 49ers planning on dragging this thing out?

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Training camp opens up on July 26th and Gould could theoretically skip all of it and still earn the $5 million he is owed. As long as he shows up by Week 1, Gould would still make his full salary.

But if he continues to hold out into the season, things could get dicey.

Each week that Gould holds out he would lose payment of one “game check.” At the same time, the 49ers would also be forfeiting a roster spot for a kicker who isn’t even playing.

Now, San Francisco could always opt to place him on the roster exempt list which would mean that he doesn’t take up a roster spot, but Gould would be forced to serve a three-game suspension at any point after he signs his tenure.

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It’s really a lose-lose situation for both sides. But if money isn’t the issue for Gould — which it doesn’t seem to be — it would appear that he has the primary leverage.

It may not be the team’s preferred option, but it may just be in their best interest to abide and trade Gould as soon as they can to avoid any further complications. Because it doesn’t appear that Gould is ready to budge.

For him, it may just be worth the $5 million to remain at home in Chicago with his family. After all, you can’t put a price on your loved ones. San Francisco might just have to come to that realization soon or else they’ll risk playing a long-distance game of “chicken” that they’re bound to lose.

Gould has been an incredible kicker over these past two seasons, but it may just be time for the 49ers to cut their losses and look for his replacement.