San Francisco 49ers kicker Robbie Gould is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent on March 15. According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, he doesn't expect to return to the Bay Area. Instead, Gould will test free agency and plans to play elsewhere in 2023.
Veteran kicker Robbie Gould said today that, as much as he enjoyed his last six seasons in San Francisco, he will test free agency later this month and be kicking elsewhere in 2023.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 4, 2023
This probably isn't unexpected news for the 49ers. The team has admitted that they are evaluating kickers leading to next month's draft.
"We're not done with that," general manager John Lynch told NBC Sports Bay Area this week at the NFL Scouting Combine. "Part of the whole Robbie situation is we got to do our work here, and you want to give Robbie as much time to pivot as possible. But we have to do our evaluations here."
San Francisco had hoped Gould would remain an option, though.
"Robbie is still very much in the picture," Lynch said. "He's been tremendous for us, so we'll see where we go on that."
The New England Patriots signed Gould (6-0, 190) as an undrafted free agent out of Penn State in 2005. He made 27-of-32 field goal attempts (84.4 percent) and 50-of-51 extra point attempts (98 percent) through 17 game appearances with the 49ers last season, per Pro Football Reference.
Gould, 40, has made 447-of-517 field goal attempts (86.5 percent) in 266 game appearances through his 18 NFL seasons with the Chicago Bears, New York Giants, and 49ers. He was named a first-team All-Pro in 2006 and was selected to the Pro Bowl in 2006.