49ers Predicted to Ruin a Chicago Bears Robbie Gould Reunion

The buzz has picked up recently regarding the possibility of a Chicago Bears Robbie Gould reunion. It's been three years since the longtime kicker left the team. One that he'd spent 10 years with and gone to the Pro Bowl for. He's the best kicker the Bears have ever had. It was hard to watch him leave back in 2016. Yet sometimes a struggling player needs to lose his security to rediscover what made him good in the first place. That has happened for Gould. Since leaving Chicago, he's hit 82 of his last 85 field goals. At 36-years-old he's playing some of the best football of his career. Bears fans are becoming enamored with the idea of him returning. A chance to actually finish out his career with his original team. It doesn't seem like he's opposed to the idea either. Gould has said multiple times that his heart remains in Chicago. It was and shall be his favorite place. His family still lives there after all. His goals for free agency also seem to line up with the idea, including the desire to join a winning team. Except this entire movie script may get scrapped before filming even starts thanks to Gould's current team

Belief is strong 49ers won't let Chicago Bears Robbie Gould thing happen

Nick Wagoner has covered the San Francisco 49ers for three years at ESPN. He's been there since Gould arrived back in 2017 and has a firm grasp of the situation as it stands. He's of the belief that given the somewhat thin market of replacement options, they won't be too inclined to simply let him walk.

"The franchise-tag number for kickers in 2019 is expected to come in somewhere around $5 million, a number the Niners can easily absorb, given they should have between $60 million and $70 million in cap space. Ideally, the 49ers would like to sign Gould to an extension before free agency, and the sides have had talks toward that, but it's hard to imagine a scenario in which they'd just let him walk with no better option clearly available. Prediction: If no deal is struck, Gould will be tagged and negotiations will continue."

In other words, Robbie will be locked in place for at least one more year by the 49ers and perhaps more if he's open to any long-term extension they offer. This means the feel-good story of a Chicago return would effectively die and leave the Bears with the difficult task of finding a replacement for Cody Parkey. Such is how things can go in the NFL.