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The 49ers have placed their franchise tag on kicker Robbie Gould, the team announced Tuesday morning. The 49ers are the first team to use the designation since the window opened last Tuesday.
The Athletic‘s Matt Barrows reports that the 49ers will use the non-exclusive franchise tag on Gould.
Hearing #49ers used the non exclusive tag on Robbie Gould. Means he can negotiate with other teams, but if he signs an offer sheet, the 49ers can match the offer, or if don’t they are entitled to receive two first-round draft picks as compensation. You have been warned, #Bears.
— Matt Barrows (@mattbarrows) February 26, 2019
Gould will make more than $5 million in 2019, a considerable raise after making $4 million throughout the past two seasons.
This is the first time the 49ers have used the franchise tag since 2012. It comes with good reason. In his two years with the 49ers, Gould connected on 72 of 75 field goal attempts, the most accurate two-year stretch for a kicker with at least 50 attempts in NFL history. He made game-winners in three of San Francisco’s 10 wins over the past two seasons.
For the past several weeks, it looked as if Gould, 36, was nearing a reunion with Chicago, where he played his first 11 NFL seasons. The Bears reportedly plan to release Cody Parkey, who missed a game-winner in Chicago’s wild-card defeat last month. Gould has been on numerous podcasts and Chicago radio stations in recent weeks talking about his love for Chicago, where his permanent home resides. He is the franchise’s all-time leading scorer.
But Gould will continue his historic tenure with the 49ers into a third year, unless he matches the offer sheet, which is unlikely. Prior to the 2018 season, Gould told KNBR he felt better than he ever had, and his best year followed. In his 14th season, Gould engineered his best season, connecting on 33 of 34 field goal attempts. He was also named one of five team captains in 2018.
Tagging a kicker sounds odd, but it’s not all that rare. Baltimore was the last team to tag its kicker, in 2016 with Justin Tucker. Five kickers were tagged in 2012.
