49ers Talk hosts Jennifer Lee Chan and Matt Maiocco discuss what positions the 49ers should prioritize in this year’s NFL draft.
Robbie Gould, one of the most reliable kickers in NFL history, most likely has played his final game with the 49ers.
Gould on Saturday confirmed to NBC Sports Bay Area that he intended to move on after playing six seasons with the team.
He is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent and can begin negotiating with other teams on March 13, when the NFL’s open-negotiating period begins.
Gould said he will “be kicking elsewhere in 2023,” ESPN's Adam Schefter first reported Saturday. Gould confirmed to NBC Sports Bay Area his plan to not re-sign with the 49ers for another season.
Gould, 40, did not know what the future held two days after the 49ers’ season concluded, but he knew he was not ready to call it quits.
"I’m nowhere near retiring,” Gould said. “I got a lot left to do from a career perspective -- No. 1 being winning a Super Bowl. And, two, I’m pretty close to a lot of milestones I think would be pretty neat to be able to accomplish."
General manager John Lynch this week told reporters at the NFL Scouting Combine that the 49ers do not plan to use the franchise tag. It would cost the 49ers approximately $6.6 million to place the tag on Gould. They tagged Gould in 2020, and he eventually signed a three-year extension to remain with the 49ers.
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“Part of the whole Robbie situation is we got to do our work here, and you want to give Robbie as much time to pivot as possible. But we have to do our evaluations here,” Lynch said this week in Indianapolis.
Lynch said the 49ers would closely monitor and evaluate the draft-eligible kickers, but he held out hope the team could work out an agreement that would enable Gould to remain in the Bay.
“Robbie is still very much in the picture,” Lynch said. “He's been tremendous for us, so we’ll see where we go on that.”
On March 10, 2017, Gould was one of seven players introduced as the first free-agent class under Lynch and coach Kyle Shanahan. Gould and fullback Kyle Juszczyk were the only members of that group who remained with the 49ers last season.
In his career, Gould’s 29 field goals in the playoffs without a miss is the best mark in NFL history. He ranks No. 1 in 49ers history with 21 postseason field goals.
Gould holds the 49ers’ record of 33 consecutive field goals without a miss, a streak he accomplished from Oct. 29, 2017, to Oct. 7, 2018.
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Gould made 87.5 percent of his field-goal attempts (161 of 184) during his time with the 49ers. He is eighth in NFL history with an 86.46 percent accuracy on field-goal attempts, also eighth with 447 made field goals and 10th with 1,961 points.
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