49ers GM John Lynch finally breaks silence on Reuben Foster arrest

San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch, speaking from the NFL Scouting Combine, finally had some words about linebacker Reuben Foster’s second arrest this offseason.

Both the San Francisco 49ers and linebacker Reuben Foster have remained mostly silent since Foster’s second offseason arrest, stemming from charges of domestic violence and possessing an assault weapon, on Feb. 11.

Outside the prototypical “we’re aware of the situation” comments made in the wake of the incident, the Niners and general manager John Lynch have been deafeningly quiet.

Until now.

“There’s places I can’t and won’t go. We’re actively following protocols with both law enforcement and the NFL.” – 49ers general manager John Lynch

Lynch, speaking from the 2018 NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis (h/t Cam Inman of the San Jose Mercury News), finally offered up some comments about the Foster situation and where the team is at right now.

“With this, we’ve been a little quiet,” Lynch said. “And that’s for a reason. There’s places I can’t and won’t go. We’re actively following protocols with both law enforcement and the NFL.”

Lynch also made references to the likelihood San Francisco searches for replacement linebackers. More on that in a moment, but it’s pretty clear the 49ers are going to need a contingency plan for Foster here.

One of the bigger question marks, though, was the difference in how Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan handled a similar incident with former Niners cornerback Tramaine Brock, who was arrested on a domestic violence charge last April and subsequently released a day later.

Lynch then offered up much of the same comments he made after Brock’s release last year:

"I said then, and I’ll say now, our approach is that each one of these situations is unique and different. Listen, I know there’s a lot of conjecture as to, “Well, of course Brock wasn’t the player that Reuben is.” I would counter to say that he was a starting cornerback for us. We didn’t take that lightly.I think anybody who watched us play — I don’t want to say a weakness — but an area of concern for us was the cornerback position. And that had a large part to do with it. It wasn’t something we took lightly. It was the decision that we felt was best for everyone involved.The context, in a broad sense, of what we discussed with Reuben, is just our expectations for him and our expectations for all of our players,” Lynch said. “We have a high standard. I think we made that very clear. We remain in communication, but a lot of that’s gonna remain private between us because of a lot of things such as the ongoing legal matter and protocols that are in place."

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Foster’s checkered past certainly adds to the complex situation. He entered the NFL Draft a year ago after being dismissed from the scouting combine after an altercation with a hospital worker. That, plus a diluted sample at the combine, surely dropped his 2017 draft stock down towards the tail end of Round 1, where the 49ers landed him at No. 31 overall.

Two arrests this offseason, the first in Alabama on second-degree marijuana possession, reinforces what many could view as a pattern of poor off-field decision making.

Right now, Lynch and the Niners are biding their time as long as possible before making an ultimate decision. The lack of roster moves suggest they hope Foster is cleared of charges, even though a lengthy NFL-mandated suspension is likely.

Next: Best- and worst-case scenarios for linebacker Reuben Foster

If he’s found guilty, though, it’s almost impossible to envision a scenario in which San Francisco retains the talented-yet-troublesome linebacker.