Many have been critical of the San Francisco 49ers for the contract they gave to Kyle Juszczyk last year. The 49ers fullback recently came in at No. 1 on an ESPN list which looked at 20 NFL players with bloated deals. After all, Juszczyk is earning an average salary that is more than double any other fullback in the league.
What was not mentioned in the ESPN piece was that the 49ers had to get into a bidding war for Juszczyk. In fact, the fullback revealed shortly after his signing that the 49ers' offer wasn't even the largest he received. Juszczyk turned down more money to play in San Francisco for head coach Kyle Shanahan.
Juszczyk told Matt Maiocco of NBC Bay Area that he helped the 49ers recruit running back Jerick McKinnon in free agency this year. The 49ers were going up against the New York Jets' offers to land the running back.
It turns out, the main competition for Juszczyk was the same team. The 49ers fullback revealed that it was the Jets which offered him more money. Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports reported the Jets' interest in Juszczyk before the start of free agency last year.
"The Jets actually offered me more than what the Niners did the day after I had verbally agreed to come here," Juszczyk said on the 49ers Insider Podcast. "I just felt like I was going into a better situation here. I loved Kyle's offense, and I just felt like we were headed in the right direction. We were already restarting where at the beginning of last season, no one was quite sure which direction the Jets were headed. I felt like we had something better here."
The situation was not unlike one faced during Juszczyk's college recruiting process. He viewed the offer from Harvard as tough to turn down, but another program entered the picture late in the process.
"Similar to the way it went down with the Niners and the Jets, the day after I accepted my scholarship to Harvard, Miami of Ohio called," Juszczyk explained. "So that was my only Division I-A school, and they offered me a scholarship."
As with the 49ers, Juszczyk said he probably would have still ended up at Harvard even if Miami University's offer had come in first.
You can listen to the entire interview with Juszczyk below.
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