Three 49ers have been arrested this offseason, but 49ers General Manager Trent Baalke does not appreciate any suggestion that he has assembled a locker room full of bad guys.
“Those are damn good guys that work awfully hard at being good people and good football players,” Baalke said, via the San Francisco Chronicle. “So respect that as well. Respect the masses because the masses are doing it right. And we’ll get the other things fixed.”
Baalke did acknowledge, however, that he would prefer not to have stories surrounding his team like the arrest of Aldon Smith for making a bomb threat at the airport, the hit-and-run and possession of brass knuckles charges against Chris Culliver, the public intoxication arrest of Daniel Kilgore and the naming of Colin Kaepernick and Quinton Patton in an investigation of a woman who was brought to a Miami hospital.
“There is concern,” Baalke said. “We hold ourselves to a high standard. The community deserves that. We represent the community. We don’t take that lightly. It’s important to us. [Reporters] write a lot of things when guys do things out of character, which [reporters] should. I expect you to write on those. But I would also expect the same when our players our doing a lot of community service, are doing a lot of extra to be a standup part of this community. And our players work awfully hard at that. Awfully hard at that.”
Unfortunately for the 49ers, the dozens of players who work hard at being standup parts of the community can be overshadowed by a few who don’t.