Matt Barrows is reporting the San Francisco 49ers recently reached out the Alex Boone about his contract situation. It appears they were rebuffed in their communication, as the 49ers right guard continues his hold out. For now though at least the 49ers have not shut down communication entirely. It is not the best of news, but I suppose it could be a lot worse.
The 49ers cleared a couple million dollars in cap space last week when they restructured Ahmad Brooks's contract. That got us thinking the team could be extending someone pretty soon, but nothing appears particularly imminent. For now, Boone faces daily $30,000 fines, and we have passed the point where the team can now start collecting on his prorated signing bonus. I'll get some more detail on that in a bit. The point being though, we're at a point where somebody is probably going to have to be willing to lose a little face to make this work.
Jim Harbaugh and Trent Baalke have both been complimentary of Joe Looney's work, with Coach Harbaugh talking about some wow moments from him. It is not exactly a surprise to hear compliments from Jim Harbaugh, but it's also not a surprise in this particular situation. After all, compliments about a potential replacement adds even just a little bit of pressure to Boone.
The 49ers cleared cap space this week, but it does not mean a big name will get a deal done. We'd all like to see a deal for Boone or Crabtree or whomever, but for now, it's difficult to predict who is next. Boone seemed like a logical candidate, but his rebuff of the 49ers contact would not seem to bode well for a deal getting done soon. If this went down as Barrows described, It would seem to be an indicator that the two sides are fairly far apart on a new contract.