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SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Kicker Robbie Gould, one of the first free agents signed by the San Francisco 49ers after training his coach Kyle Shanahan and his general manager John Lynch in 2017, will remain in place for at least a season after receiving the franchise label from the team on Tuesday.
He is the first player to receive the franchise designation this season.
The 2019 franchise label for punters and kickers is expected to be a little over $ 5 million as part of the one-year public offering. This money would be fully guaranteed if Gould chose to sign it, and both parties could continue working on a long-term agreement until the July 15 deadline.
Gould received the non-exclusive label, which means he can receive offers from other teams, but the 49 members can match any of the offer sheets he might sign.
Since 2009, half of the 12 kickers who have received the franchise label have signed new contracts with the team that identified them.
Before scoring Gould, the 49ers tried to draft a long-term contract with him. Lynch told Senior Bowl in January that the team was "hopeful" to be able to sign Gould again and acknowledged that discussions were under way.
"He had an incredible kick for us," said Lynch. "He's been incredibly nice to us, we'd like to reward him for that."
But, the two parties being unable to reach an agreement, the Niners, who plan to have more than $ 70 million in salary cap, chose to use this label to prevent Gould from leaving without having the possibility to match external offers and / or receive compensation for him.
Gould is the first Niners player to be scored since the 2012 Dashon Goldson security and the first kicker the team has chosen to give to this title since its inception.
Based on Gould's productivity in two seasons with the team, it is not surprising that the Niners have chosen to retain control of his rights.
San Francisco signed a $ 4 million, two-year contract with Gould, via an independent agency, after converting its 10 goals to the field in 2016 for the match. New York Giants, where he resurfaced after being released by the Chicago Bears, where he spent the first eleven years of his career.
Gould quickly became accustomed to challenging game conditions at Levi's Stadium and has been the most accurate kicker in the league since. In the past two seasons, he has made 72 of 75 attempts, and his conversion rate is 96%, a record in the NFL. Only the Baltimore Ravens and the Los Angeles Rams are trying to get more goals in this period.
All of this was enough to allow Gould the Niners to become the most important autonomous agent in a dead season in which only a few offensive and defensive players would be on the open market.
"Of course, we want Robbie to come back," Shanahan said at the end of the season. "He's been great for two years, it's good for a coach, that … I do not think he's missing [kicks] at all."
Shanahan's desire to keep Gould can be attributed to previous teams that he was coaching in which kicking was a serious problem. In two seasons in Houston (2008-09), the Texans made 76.9% of their placement attempts, which ranked 28th in the NFL over that period. When Shanahan led the Washington Redskins' offense, they only converted 75.8% of field goals from 2010 to 2013, the worst of the NFL in that period. After a year in charge of the Cleveland Brown attack, Shanahan only managed 78.1% of his attempts, also 28th in the NFL.
Together, the kickers of the teams for which Shanahan played in his first seven years recorded 175 attempts out of 229, a conversion rate of 76.4%, which would rank him last in the NFL and well below average of the league 83.7% for these seven seasons.
The 49ers' decision to score Gould comes after a few months during which it seemed like a meeting with the Bears could be envisioned for the kicker, whose family lives in Chicago during the season while he was staying in a home. hotel near the 49ers. establishment.
While stating that he would be open to reconciliation in Windy City, Gould also said that staying in San Francisco would be a good thing.
"It's probably the best course of my career in two years, one of the best in football history, and it happens with a lot of great people, right?" Gould said after the season. "… It's worked pretty well since I've been here, and it's been pretty easy, so the organization is checking a lot of boxes for me."
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