John Middlekauf who covered the 49ers and is from the area said that the 49ers tried to get him to take a pay cut. He was gonna make like $19m but the 49ers didn’t want to take the cap hit. Feels that Arik saw what the DT are getting in the market and decided not to restructure. Feels someone is gonna over pay him for sure. Mentioned us. Here is the thing with Arik. He has a bad knee and missed 13 games the last two years. The 49ers cut him even tho he’s from the area, is absolutely loved by everyone in the 49ers building and was a Walter Payton nominee a few times. So in the end the 49ers weighed everything and decided to take the $26m cap hit. seems like a stand up guy and a good DT that would fill a need for us but I would hate to overpay someone who is 30yrs and has had a history of knee issues the last two seasons. edit. 49ers fans say it’s been a recurring foot and knee issue with him that last two years.
1-year, $1million from The Steelers since Wilson still gets $38million from The Broncos. Hard to argue with the economics of this move from The Steelers standpoint (a starting NFL QB, even a lower-tier one for only a mil?). Russ was better this year with Broncos than last year, but all signs seem to point to his days of high-level NFL quarterbacking behind him. He’ll have some weapons to throw to which “maybe” he was lacking in Denver. Will be interesting to see if Russ nets Steelers any more wins, a team that just made the playoffs with a combination of Kenny Pickett and Mason Rudolph under center.
My 2 cents: Good guy, but he never lived up to the hype at Oregon. On the 49ers, I didn't considered him an impact player but he was very good at times. Injury-prone. Demeco knows him very well and hopefully doesn't want him on the Texans at a high salary. Testing the market now is smart move by Arik.
So now we're talking about DeAndre Swift and Arik Armstead instead of Saquon Barkley and Christian Wilkins?? Talk about the definition of taking the wind out of my sails. What's the point of hoarding cap space and going for short term deals while the team is bad if you can't shoot your shot while the team is good with a rookie QB??
