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According to Matt Maiocco of CSN Bay Area and Pro Football Talk, San Francisco 49ers starting free safety Dashon Goldson wants a fairly sizable payday. The Pro Bowl safety reportedly wants a contract similar to the one San Diego Chargers' Eric Weddle received, which was a 5-year, $40M deal with $19M in guaranteed money -- one of the richer contracts for a safety in league history.
The 49ers do not shy away from rewarding their own players. In the past few seasons, San Francisco has dished out big contracts to players that will be important players for years to come. Patrick Willis (5yr, $50M), Vernon Davis (6yr, $42M), Ahmad Brooks (6yr, $44.5M), Ray McDonald (5yr, $25M), Carlos Rogers (4yr, $31M) and Andy Lee (6yr, $20.5M) have all received noteworthy new deals as of recent.
And while Paraag Marathe is a whiz when it comes to structuring deals, these aren't the New York Yankees -- there isn't some infinite salary cap.
Goldson is currently the team's unsigned franchise player, set to earn $6.212M in 2012, which is still a handsome payday. The Niners would love for their safety to return and play under the franchise tag, because looking forward, the 49ers could be faced with a decision where they either re-sign Goldson or NaVorro Bowman. And while a good safety is the harder position to find nowadays, Bowman is who the team should re-sign.
Keeping both might be difficult, and perhaps that's why the Niners have added more depth at safety than inside linebacker.
But one thing is for certain, they don't want to have to make that decision now. The 49ers are gearing up for a serious run at the Lombardi Trophy in 2012 and need all hands on deck. It would be irresponsible and inconsiderate of Goldson to conduct any sort of holdout.
The only real candidates to fill in would be the rookie from Michigan State Trenton Robinson or one of Colin Jones and C.J. Spillman. It wouldn't suffice given what the 49ers are trying to accomplish in 2012.
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