5 players 49ers won’t bring back after final 2022 season
By Peter Panacy
No. 2: 49ers kicker Robbie Gould
If it weren’t for EDGE Dee Ford’s lofty contract costing the Niners all sorts of money despite him being injured and unavailable more times than not, veteran kicker Robbie Gould‘s contract would unquestionably be the worst on San Francisco’s roster.
While Gould was outstanding in 2018, notching a league-best 97.1 field-goal percentage that year, he reverted back to being a merely average place-kicker in the years since.
Despite that, the 49ers set him up nicely with a four-year, $19 million contract entering 2019 after some contractual disputes and a questionable use of the franchise tag.
Teams almost never use the tag on kickers, yet the Niners did.
Additionally, a $3.625 million annual average is an awful lot for anyone but the most elite kickers out there, and Gould’s status as NFL elite has long since passed. A year ago, he converted 87 percent of his field-goal attempts, which isn’t bad. But that’s also the kind of production notably cheaper kickers can often deliver, too.
Gould’s lofty contract will expire after this season. And with him turning 40 years old by the time 2022 is finished, there’s absolutely no way San Francisco looks to bring him back.