Veteran kicker Robbie Gould wanted to remain with the 49ers following the 2022 NFL season, but San Francisco's front office went in a different direction, opting to move on and draft Jake Moody.
More than a year later, Gould addressed negotiations with the 49ers while also admitting he's still rooting for his former teammates to win a Super Bowl.
"Could I have gone back to San Francisco? Probably not," Gould told NBC Sports Bay Area's Matt Maiocco last week at the 2024 American Century Championship celebrity golf tournament at the Edgewood Resort in Lake Tahoe. "I think the relationship there from the executives to me was definitely fractured. Not in a poor way, I just think negotiations and how those things operated, they take a toll on your relationships.
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"I'll be forever thankful for what they did for my family, very thankful for the York family for what they did for six years, giving me an opportunity to have success and play in NFC Championships and Super Bowls."
Gould spent his first nine NFL seasons with the Chicago Bears and one season with the New York Giants before joining the 49ers in 2017.
The now-41-year-old made 161 of his 184 regular-season field-goal attempts and 221 of 230 extra-point attempts while with the 49ers.
In nine 49ers playoff games, Gould was a perfect 21-of-21 on field-goal attempts and 19-of-19 on extra-point attempts.
San Francisco 49ers
Despite those numbers, the 49ers decided to go with the younger option, selecting Moody in the third round of the 2023 NFL Draft, signaling that Gould's time in San Francisco was done.
"It was a fun run, and it still is for those guys," Gould told Maiocco. "Obviously my teammates, I want them to win. They deserve it. The 49ers Faithful, they are some of the most dedicated, crazy, over-the-top fans. I mean, we played in a NFC Championship [Game] in LA and we took over the whole stadium, to the point where, Week 17, we play them, take over the stadium, they will not sell tickets to the NFC Championship so we don't do it again, to where the Rams [players'] wives were talking about 'Buy the tickets.' That's what they were worried about.
"So when you have a fanbase like that and a group of players that they have, with the head coach that they have, I mean, that staff is top notch and the knowledge they have, the effort they put into it. There's so many things that people look behind the scenes, like 'Oh, they got to to the championship game again, they got to the Super Bowl again.' It's not that easy. And what they're doing is pretty special."
Gould, now a high school football coach in Illinois, told Maiocco he had a chance to sign with a team towards the end of the 2023 season but opted against it.
"The right place didn't come up," Gould said. "I had an opportunity to go to a rival of San Francisco's at the end of the year, but at that point I knew, what was three weeks going to do to change my career? What was three weeks going to do to change the trajectory of what I wanted to accomplish as a player. It's kind of fun to reflect. I got a chance to reflect on my career and it was an awesome run. It was great. I had a lot of great teammates, lot of great coaches, lot of success. The only regret I have is that I didn't win a Super Bowl."
Gould never won a Super Bowl, but he's still hoping many of his old 49ers teammates get a chance to hoist the Vince Lombardi Trophy during this current run.