Following his Thursday press conference with the media at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan took some time to speak with Bay Area reporters. One of the topics that came up was the situation surrounding star linebacker Reuben Foster.
On February 11, Foster was booked into the Santa Clara County Jail on suspicion of domestic violence, threats, and possession of an assault weapon. Just a month earlier, he was arrested and charged with second-degree possession of marijuana in Alabama.
Thursday was the first time Shanahan spoke publicly about Foster since the linebacker's second arrest of the offseason. Foster was a model citizen for the 49ers in 2017. His troubles started once the regular season ended and he was on his own.
"Reuben was great for us when he was around, and things have happened since he's been gone," Shanahan said via NBC Sports Bay Area, "and those are things we have to address and things we need to make sure he learns how to do things the right way. I want to help Reuben out, just like I want to help any of our players out. But it's a two-way street, and they have to meet us there. And there comes a lot of responsibility with that."
The 49ers are entering free agency and the draft with the assumption that Foster will miss a significant portion of the 2018 season -- assuming he remains on the team when all is said and done. 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.
"So any time that stuff starts happening, regardless of what they decide, that's always a risk," Shanahan said. "We're well aware of that, and we have to take that into account. He has put us in a tough situation. Hopefully, it works out for all sides. But that is realistic. If I said it wasn't, that wouldn't be very smart of me."
The 49ers' first-round selection will either be at No. 9 or 10 -- depending on the result of a tiebreaking coin flip against the Oakland Raiders on Friday. Both teams finished with a 6-10 record and similar strength-of-schedules. The 49ers currently own nine total selections in next month's draft.
On Wednesday, 49ers general manager John Lynch broke his silence regarding the Foster situation and acknowledged that the team is taking it into account when planning for the offseason.
"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.
The 49ers, which included Lynch and Shanahan, met with Foster the day after his arrest. The team has not revealed much about what was discussed during the 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."
Foster was the second of two first-round picks (No. 31 overall) by the 49ers in last year's draft and started 10 games while registering 72 combined tackles and a pass defensed. Foster missed six games with a high ankle sprain and a rib injury. During the 2017 season, he was named the Defensive Rookie of the Month for November.
Foster also finished the season with the team's highest player grade (90.7), according to Pro Football Focus.
