In the early hours of Monday, following a hard-fought loss to the Washington Redskins, San Francisco 49ers linebackers Reuben Foster and Ray-Ray Armstrong found themselves in a very scary situation. The linebackers encountered two men carrying an assault rifle and a handgun, according to a report, after they left a downtown club with security at 2 a.m.
"Two masked men wearing white hoodies emerged, carrying an assault rifle and a handgun, respectively," wrote MissionLocal.org. "The police report states the would-be robbers pointed their guns at the four men."
Foster and Armstrong were able to flee the scene and escape unharmed.
"It's a reminder on how careful you've got to be," 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters on Wednesday. "Was definitely glad that they got out of it ok. Sounded pretty dangerous, something pretty scary. A situation I haven't been in like that before but I know they were pretty shook up from it and worried and I'm just really glad they're alright."
Whenever a report like this emerges, some will ask why players would be there in the first place believing they should be more careful given their high-profile status. Shanahan briefly addressed that opinion.
"I don't think everyone totally knows our exact lifestyle," Shanahan said. "Sunday night, after a game -- I'm not making excuses for anyone but just to be honest with you guys -- Monday, our first team meeting is at one o'clock. We go over the game tape and that's all meetings. There's nothing physical. There's nothing on the field. Tuesday is the player's day off. Then we see them Wednesday.
"Sunday night, for 90-percent of this league or whatever it is, that's players' Friday night. Monday night is players' Saturdays and everyone handles their free time differently. I know you've got to handle it right. When you're in those situations, you've got to be careful as hopefully, they learn from being in that situation. But I also want to keep perspective that when guys do decide to have a night out and they don't have a big thing the next day, I want them to handle themselves right, protect our team, but I'm not going to get mad at a guy for putting the work in all week -- those guys grind -- and then deciding to go out and go what I think most people do at their age at that time.
"I know the report was at two and stuff, which is a little bit after when it happened. I also know that's about that time when those bars close and you want guys to stay out of trouble and not put themselves in that situation. I think I'd feel a lot differently if it was a Thursday night or a different night of the week. Just to be honest with you guys, Sundays, it's a little different schedule for people in the NFL."
