[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by Quesadilla Joe

From the McGlinchey article I posted the other day:

“IF YOU'RE PAYING attention -- and believe me, I was -- it was easy to figure out that I wouldn't be back with the 49ers after this past season. To be honest, I knew for about a year. They had [left tackle] Trent Williams, making the amount of money that he does [$27.2 million cap figure in 2023], and this is just the way the team has always gone about its business.

There were no surprises, that's for sure. [Niners general manager] John Lynch and [coach] Kyle Shanahan kept me updated the whole time, and they were very clear about what was going to happen. But I definitely got a behind-the-curtain look at how the sausage is made in the NFL. After the 2021 season, they both told me, "We may even look to move you at some point. We're projecting into the future, and we think you're going to get priced out. We want to get something in return."

“And then, what I expected became final during my exit interviews with John and Kyle after this season. They were clear that, barring something out of the ordinary, I wouldn't be back. It was a money thing, and they told me point blank. "We'd love to have you back, but we can't stretch ourselves too thin."

Wow, it sounds like they didn't value him much at all.