It seems like the San Francisco 49ers finally managed to find common ground with their disgruntled placekicker Robbie Gould. According to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, 49ers and Gould agreed to a long term contract in principle with several smaller details left to be ironed out.
Pelissero reports that Gould agreed to a four-year deal that is worth $19 million. With $4.75 million per year average, the deal makes him the second-highest-paid kicker in the NFL behind only Baltimore Ravens’ Justin Tucker. The first two years of the contract are fully guaranteed, while the second two are team options.
Prior to the agreement, Gould was set to play under $4.971 million franchise tag in 2019.
This represents an unexpected turn of events, as Robbie Gould seemed set on forcing his way out of San Francisco. Besides not getting the deal he wanted, Gould also felt homesick and was looking to return to his hometown of Chicago and play with the Bears. The 36-year-old even asked for a trade at one point, but the 49ers were determined to keep him with the team.
Gould established himself as one of the most reliable kickers in the league in the past couple of seasons. He missed only three field goals in the previous three seasons while making 82 of them. Also, his 97.1 percent of field goals made ranked him at the top among kickers in NFL in 2018.
