"With this, we've been a little quiet," San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch said at the 2018 NFL Scouting Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on Wednesday. "And that's for a reason. There's places I can't and won't go."
It was the first time the 49ers have spoken publicly about star linebacker Reuben Foster's second arrest of the offseason. On February 11, he was booked into the Santa Clara County Jail on suspicion of domestic violence, threats, and possession of an assault weapon. Just a month earlier, Foster was arrested and charged with second-degree possession of marijuana in Alabama.
The 49ers continue to actively follow protocols with both law enforcement and the NFL, according to Lynch.
Foster's troubles put the 49ers into a troublesome spot. Under the NFL's domestic violence policy, players are subject to a baseline suspension of six games without pay following the first incident and a lifetime ban from the league for a second infraction. The 49ers may have to plan on Foster not being available for a significant portion of the 2018 season.
"That would be something that we have to take into account, whether it be in free agency or not, whether it be re-signing our own guys or whether it be in the draft," Lynch said.
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Last offseason, the 49ers acted swiftly by releasing starting cornerback Tramaine Brock when he was arrested in Santa Clara on a domestic violence charge. Brock had his charges dismissed four months later. Lynch addressed the two situations.
"Listen, I know there's a lot of conjecture as to, 'Well, of course Brock wasn't the player that Reuben is,'" Lynch said. "I would counter to say that he was a starting cornerback for us. We didn't take that lightly. I think anybody who watched us play -- I don't want to say a weakness -- but an area of concern for us was the cornerback position. And that had a large part to do with it. It wasn't something we took lightly. It was the decision that we felt was best for everyone involved."
Foster met with Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan the day after his latest arrest. Not much has been revealed about what was discussed during that conversation.
"The context, in a broad sense, of what we discussed with Reuben, is just our expectations for him and our expectations for all of our players," Lynch said. "We have a high standard. I think we made that very clear. We remain in communication, but a lot of that's gonna remain private between us because of a lot of things such as the ongoing legal matter and protocols that are in place."
(Thanks to Cam Inman of Bay Area News Group for the quotes)