San Francisco 49ers safety Dashon Goldson to play the 2012 season under franchise tag – NFL News
San Francisco 49ers safety Dashon Goldson will play the entire 2012 National Football League (NFL) season under the franchise tag after the player and the team did not sign any long-term contract until Monday July 16, 2012.
Daily Democrat reported that the 49ers did not give any long-term deal to the safety on Monday.
Goldson, who has been playing for the 49ers since starting his professional NFL career in 2007, signed a one-year deal after expiry of his rookie contract last year.
He played through his contract that ended after the 2011 season. Later, the franchise placed its tag valuing a little over $6 million on Goldson.
Goldson has not signed the tag yet. He could have received a long-term deal before Monday, but now the league rules bar him from receiving the new contract.
If interested, the 49ers can now award him a new long-term deal after the end of the 2012 regular season.
Goldson reportedly turned down a five-year, $25 million deal from the 49ers last year and became a free agent. However, he was unable to attract any team in the free agency and returned to the 49ers on a one-year, $2 million deal.
Earlier, Goldson expressed hopes of receiving a long-term deal from the 49ers so as to get job security, but he maintained that if he had to, he would play the entire 2012 season under the tag.
If Goldson do not receive another deal after the 2012 season, he will again hit free agency. 49ers will have three options in that situation.
They could either let Goldson go. They also have an option of giving the desired long-term deal to the safety. If those options are not suitable enough, they could once again place their tag on the player.
The decision will depend on how Goldson performs in the upcoming season. 49ers had a breakout season last year and they are considered as one of the Super Bowl contenders for the next season.
If the team wins the title and Goldson also performs well then 49ers might retain him for the next few years, but at the moment it is hard to speculate his future course.
Tags: