On Thursday night, 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh said that quarterback Seneca Wallace didn’t play in the preseason finale because Wallace told him that he wasn’t continuing to play football.
That was widely interpreted as a retirement statement from the veteran backup quarterback, but his agent says that isn’t the case. Don Yee said that Wallace told Harbaugh he didn’t want to play in the game if it meant mopping up at the end of the game when the 49ers were playing guys who will wind up being cut this weekend.
“My understanding is that Seneca will continue his football career but that there was a discussion about his situation particularly with the 49ers,” Yee said, via Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee.
Wallace was expected to be cut as the 49ers make their way to 53 players, so it makes sense that he wouldn’t want to put himself at risk of injury when there might be a chance of a job elsewhere in the league when the dust settles after Saturday’s roster cutdown deadline. It seems we’ll have to hold off on inscribing the gold watch for Wallace for a little while.