San Francisco 49ers kicker Robbie Gould was not in attendance during the team's mandatory minicamp earlier this month. He may not even be in attendance when the 49ers report to training camp on July 26. San Francisco used the non-exclusive franchise tag on Gould in February. The kicker has not signed the one-year contract, and it doesn't look like he plans on doing so anytime soon.
Gould signed a two-year deal with the 49ers in 2017 and spent last season living out of a hotel with his family back in Chicago. That's where he has been all offseason — with his wife and three young boys.
Gould requested a trade in April. General manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan said they have no intention of granting the request and expect Gould to be their kicker in 2019.
"Robbie's a hell of a kicker," Shanahan said earlier this month, "and nothing's really changed on that. I just really hope that he shows up by the time we play Week 1."
The 49ers would like to come to a multi-year agreement with Gould but know that his heart lies with his family in Chicago. That's where he wants to remain. Ideally, Gould would likely enjoy reuniting with the Chicago Bears, the team for which he played 11 seasons.
San Francisco hopes to get at least one more season out of Gould.
"Unfortunately, we know we're not going to have him long-term here," Shanahan said in April. "I think that's been pretty clear. No hard feelings about that. I do understand his reasons. But, pretty excited to have a good kicker this year."
Gould continues to train for the upcoming season while in Chicago. He is also taking advantage of the time he's been able to spend with his family and posted several videos on social media of himself doing dad-type things with his boys — like singing Sesame Street songs in the car.
As far as his situation with the 49ers…
"Obviously, it's a complicated situation," Gould told NBC Sports Chicago. "The way I've kind of approached it is I want to spend time with my family. I let my agent handle it, and if anything comes up that I have to make a decision or be in the know on, then he'll call me and let me know. Right now, there's nothing to really know, and I'm just enjoying being home and being in Chicago.
"It's been fun. I've been able to take my kids to school every morning, go work out, kick through the things I need to do, go pick them up from school, run them to their sports, and other activities. It's been nice to be able to do that. I haven't had that opportunity in three years, and I'm going to take full advantage of that opportunity.
"I'm at a point in my career where my family is what's going to dictate the decisions that I make."
There is still time for Gould and the 49ers to work out a multi-year deal. The two sides have until July 15 to get something done before Gould's only options are to play on the one-year franchise-tag contract worth nearly $5 million or sit out the 2019 season. That is assuming the 49ers don't give in and trade the disgruntled kicker.
Gould says he hasn't kept tabs on the Bears' kicker competition that has come down to Eddy Pineiro and Elliott Fry.
As for the 49ers, Jon Brown has been handling the field goal duties during the team's offseason program.
"Jon Brown's doing well," special teams coordinator Richard Hightower said earlier this month. "Yeah, he's working his tail off. He's got a strong leg. The thing about Jon is he has to just develop as a kicker, which everybody had to do, even Robbie had to do. Everybody has to do that until they get their chance. He's done a phenomenal job up until this point. But again, he's still got a long way to go, as we all do."
