San Francisco 49ers kicker Robbie Gould isn't feeling too much pressure from the looming July 15 deadline to agree to a multi-year contract or play under his one-year franchise-tag deal. He doesn't even consider himself the 49ers' kicker right now. Instead, he calls himself a kicker "in limbo," according to Cam Inman of Bay Area News Group.
Inman had a chance to catch up with Gould, who is competing in the American Century Championship celebrity golf tournament this week at Edgewood Tahoe. While the kicker is well aware of the approaching deadline, he is leaving his up-in-the-air contract in the hands of his agent.
"I don't really have a plan right now," Gould told Inman. "Obvious there is a deadline, and I don't have to make any decisions anytime soon. … The deadline to sign a longer-term contract is Monday, and the rest of that is up to me."
Gould knows he has options. If need be, he can skip out on training camp, report before Week 1, and still earn all of his nearly $5 million one-year franchise-tag contract. He can also wait until Week 10 and earn a portion of that deal. Or Gould could pull a Le'Veon Bell, sit out all of 2019, and worry about a new deal next offseason. He is, after all, content with remaining in the Chicago area with his family rather than spending another year separated from them.
"We've been negotiating for 17 months, and it's been a complicated situation," Gould said. "I'm at the point where my agent is going to handle it. If there's anything I need to know about, then I'll make a decision."
A multi-year deal is still a possibility, but that would need to happen before Monday's deadline. Inman reports that if that doesn't occur, fans can expect Gould to kick elsewhere in 2020. He would have to play on the one-year franchise-tag deal or decide if he wants to sit out part of all of the upcoming season. The 49ers could also trade or release him.
As for the speculation that Gould prefers to return to his hometown Chicago Bears, the team for which he played his first 11 NFL seasons, the kicker said that is all speculation right now.
"I never said I want to go back there," Gould told Inman. "I just said I want to be closer to my family. That doesn't necessarily mean (the Bears)."
Gould continues to train in the Chicago area as if he plans to kick in 2019. He isn't concerned about not having a full offseason with his teammates and new holder Mitch Wishnowsky to build chemistry.
"I've been through several holdouts, I've been through a lockout season, I've been through not being on a team and showing up in Week 6," Gould said. "I'd say there is nothing that scares me anymore in Year 15 because I feel I've been through it all."
Click here to read Inman's feature on Gould in its entirety.