Gould roots for 49ers despite ‘fractured’ front-office relationships originally appeared in NBC Sports Bay Area
Veteran kicker Robbie Gould wanted to stay with the 49ers after the 2022 NFL season, but San Francisco’s front office took a different direction, opting to move forward and hire Jake Moody.
More than a year later, Gould addressed negotiations with the 49ers while admitting he’s still rooting for his former teammates to win the Super Bowl.
“Could I have gone back to San Francisco? Probably not,” Gould told NBC Sports Bay Area’s Matt Maiocco last week at the 2024 American Century Championship Celebrity Gold Tournament at the Edgewood Resort in Lake Tahoe. “I think the executives’ relationship with me was definitely fractured. Not in a bad way, I just think negotiations and the way these things work affect your relationships.
“I will forever be grateful for what they did for my family, very grateful for the York family for what they did for six years, giving me the opportunity to be successful and play in NFC championships and Super Bowls.”
Gould spent his first nine NFL seasons with the Chicago Bears and one season with the New York Giants before joining the 49ers in 2017.
The now 41-year-old made 161 of his 184 regular-season field goal attempts and 221 of 230 extra point attempts while with the 49ers.
In the 49ers’ nine playoff games, Gould was 21 of 21 on field goal attempts and 19 of 19 on extra point attempts.
Despite those numbers, the 49ers decided to go with the younger option, selecting Moody in the third round of the 2023 NFL Draft, signaling that Gould’s time in San Francisco was over.
“It was a fun race and still is for these guys,” Gould told Maiocco. “Obviously, my teammates, I want them to win. They deserve it. The Faithful 49ers, they’re some of the most dedicated, crazy, over-the-top fans. I mean, we played in an NFC championship [Game] in Los Angeles and we took control of the entire stadium, to the point where in week 17 we play them, we take control of the stadium, they won’t sell tickets to the NFC Championship, so we won’t do that again, where the Rams [players’] the wives were talking about ‘Buy the tickets.’ That’s what they were worried about.
“So when you have a fan base like that and a group of players that they have, with the head coach that they have, I mean, this team is top notch and the knowledge that they have, the effort that they put in in that. things that people look at behind the scenes, like ‘Oh, they made it to the championship game again, they made it to the Super Bowl again.’ It’s not that easy. And what they are doing is very special.”
Gould, now a high school football coach in Illinois, he told Maiocco he had the chance to sign with a team at the end of the 2023 season, but chose not to do so.
“The right place didn’t come along,” Gould said. “I had an opportunity to go to a San Francisco rival at the end of the year, but at that point I knew, what would three weeks do to change my career? of what I wanted to accomplish as a player. It was really fun to reflect. I had the opportunity to reflect on my career and it was great. I had a lot of great teammates. very successful. The only regret I have is not winning a Super Bowl.”
Gould has never won a Super Bow, but he still hopes many of his former 49ers teammates have a chance to hoist the Vince Lombardi Trophy during the current run.
