Ian Rapoport describes the 49ers’ interest in Josh Gordon as ‘tepid’

San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch made headlines on Sunday when he told reports before the team's game against the Detroit Lions that a call was made to the Cleveland Browns about Josh Gordon.

Of course, "a call" doesn't mean the 49ers are aggressively pursuing the troubled yet talented Gordon. The often transparent Lynch merely said the team is doing its due diligence on the receiver.

The Browns told Gordon on Saturday that he would be released on Monday. Of course, Cleveland is likely open to listening to offers for the receiver before that point.

How interested is San Francisco? Ian Rapoport of NFL Network believes the 49ers are just monitoring the situation at this point. He joined KNBR on Monday morning to discuss the chances of Gordon landing with the Niners.

"I would say they are interested, but I would describe their interest as more tepid than anything," Rapoport said on the "Murph & Mac" show. "I'm not saying it's not going to happen, and I know that Gordon, the two places that he would like to go are the Cowboys and the 49ers.

"The Cowboys are not going to happen. The 49ers, I think, if the price is right, it might, but I just don't get the sense that they're going to overspend (or) they're going to put a lot of resources into trying to bring him. Maybe if they were going to cut him, the 49ers might come in and say, 'We'll give you a seventh-rounder.'

"I get the sense it is more monitoring than anything else. There's a couple of reasons for that. First of all, unfortunately, the 49ers have been in this situation before where they have a player who has good intentions, who has been in the substance abuse program, who is a fantastic talent, and says all the things, and does all the right things, and have seen it go the wrong way. It's hard to do that a lot no matter how big of a talent he is.

"Think of what Cleveland actually ended up getting on the field out of Josh Gordon over six years. Really, one season. It's amazing. So I would say the Niners are monitoring, but I would probably not put them in the driver's seat."

You can listen to the entire conversation with Rapoport below.



While the betting world had the 49ers with the third-best odds on Sunday night of landing Gordon, behind just the New England Patriots and Dallas Cowboys, things shifted a bit on Monday morning. The Philadelphia Eagles have emerged as the favorite to land the receiver, and the 49ers now have the second-best odds.