Kicker Robbie Gould signed a four-year contract extension with the 49ers on Monday to put a bow on what Gould called a “weird offseason” a few hours later.
Gould got franchise tagged by the 49ers, saw the team flirt with Stephen Gostkowski before Gostkowski re-signed with the Patriots in April and requested a trade a short time later. That trade request came with a report that Gould was not going to continue negotiations on a long-term deal and the kicker said he was unsure if he’d report to the 49ers at all, but things changed quickly over the last few days.
There was a lot of speculation about Gould wanting a move back to the Bears because he spent the first 11 years of his career there, still lives there in the offseason and talked about wanting to stay close to his family, but Gould told Adam Schefter of ESPN that talks sparked back up on Sunday and that the 49ers made an “aggressive push” that reached the finish line.
“Who knows what would have happened if something didn’t get done, but the 49ers stepped up big time to get this done,” Gould said. “They stepped outside the box, had an open mind and we were able to get something done today.”
Gould said his family will be staying in Chicago during the 2019 season because his son’s been enrolled in kindergarten for the coming school year, but that could change in the coming years because Gould’s set to be spending a lot of time in California.