It was just hours before Robbie Gould's flight home to Chicago on Sunday after the American Century Championship celebrity golf tournament at Edgewood Tahoe that he got word that a multi-year deal between himself and the San Francisco 49ers was being aggressively discussed.
The language in the new contract was completed by the time the kicker's flight landed.
Gould wasn't sure a deal would get done. He has been involved in a months-long standoff with the 49ers, which started when the team used the franchise tag on the kicker in February. Two months later, Gould requested a trade and made it sound as though he would rather stay closer to Chicago with his family than return to the Bay Area.
"One day, you think you're a free agent. The next day, you're getting franchise tagged," Gould told Adam Schefter on his podcast this week after agreeing to the new contract. "Then you don't know if you're going to be back there because they may end up signing another kicker (Stephen Gostkowski). Then you go into missing minicamp and getting to the deadline, and nothing really happens until late last night and this morning. It's just kind of a rollercoaster of emotions."
The deal did get done just hours before the deadline to do so, and Gould will be kicking for San Francisco for at least the next two seasons, possibly longer. He told the 49ers that it would take at least a two-year guaranteed deal to get him back and that's what he received. The contract can be extended to four years worth up to $19 million.
Gould says it has been nice being around his family for the entire offseason but he is ready to report to training camp on July 26. Gould's family will remain in Chicago this year due to how late the deal got done but will join him next season. The kicker and his wife already have their children enrolled in school, making it too late to make any changes.
"Like I said, I didn't expect to get a deal done, but I'm happy and thankful that it did get done," Gould said. "It's a good problem to have, right? For a couple of months, we'll be away from each other, but the schedule is set up kind of nice. We have Labor Day weekend; we get a break. We have a bye week in Week 4. We have a Thursday night in the middle of the season. And then my wife will probably come out a couple of times in between each of those."
Gould hasn't been around his teammates after missing the entire offseason program, but he is excited to get back out on the football field. Expectations for the 49ers are all over the place with some saying they could make a playoff push and others saying they may win fewer games than last season.
"We've got a great young core," Gould said. "We've got a lot of great young players. George Kittle had a heck of a year last year, stepping up for us. I think you'll see some other young guys step up. We get Jerick McKinnon and [Jimmy Garoppolo] back, which will be awesome. I'm pretty excited to see the Nick Mullens and C.J. Beathard competition.
"We added some really key defensive pieces to the pass rush, which should help us a lot in the backend. We've got a couple of guys who can play at the secondary position, which gives us not only depth, but gives us competition. Any time you have that kind of competition, it breeds success.
"I haven't been around any of the young guys, the new guys yet, so I'm excited to see what kind of talent they got in this draft class, and see how competitive it's going to be. I think the expectation is we're going to go in there and work hard and win some football games."
Gould is ready to put the craziness of this offseason behind him and get to work.
"I'm excited to start playing football and go win a championship," he added.
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