The San Francisco 49ers inked kicker Robbie Gould to a new contract ahead of the franchise tag deadline, which goes down as a win for this team.
In most cases, an NFL team signing a kicker to a deal isn’t much to write home about. In the case of Robbie Gould and the San Francisco 49ers, though, it’s undoubtedly something that moves the needle a bit. While analytics certainly show a distaste for kicking in the modern game, it’s still comforting to have one of the surest legs in the game on your side.
The 49ers are now in that position after they agreed to a two-year, $10 million deal with Gould on Monday ahead of the franchise tag deadline, as reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter. The deal also includes an option that could make it a four-year pact worth $19 million depending on how things play out.
After the 49ers tagged Gould earlier in the offseason, things seemed like they could sour quickly with the 36-year old kicker. There were rumors that he wanted a trade and wanted to get back closer to his family, who lives in Chicago. However, a rich deal and security late in his career clearly paved the way for a deal to get done.
In locking up Gould, the 49ers are securing one of the best kickers in the NFL. Last season, the veteran leg was the league-leader in field goal percentage, converting 97.1 percent of his attempts. Furthermore, he’s missed just three attempts out of 75 to this point in his two-year tenure with San Francisco.
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While this is a move concerning a kicker, it’s undeniably a win for the Niners in their situation. With Jimmy Garoppolo returning from a torn ACL suffered at the beginning of the 2018 season, the 49ers are expected to trend starkly upward in the 2019 campaign.
That may be true, but this is still a young team under Kyle Shanahan in San Francisco. And while there is unquestionable talent like Jimmy G, Nick Bosa, DeForest Buckner, George Kittle, Joe Staley and many others on this team, they are going to face growing pains.
When a team is in that type of situation, one of the most critical things that they can do is limit the possibility for costly mistakes. For a young team still finding their way, things like turnovers and leaving points on the board with missed opportunities are wholly detrimental. Gould, in essence, serves the purpose of limiting those types of mistakes in kicking situations.
There are certainly concerns about the 49ers as they need their wide receivers to develop into consistent players and need their secondary to step up. The kicking game, however, will no longer be a concern in San Francisco, which is nice, albeit under-the-radar, win for this team.