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Thursday evening following the 49ers-Chargers game, Jim Harbaugh told the assembled media that prior to the game, Seneca Wallace told Harbaugh he was not going to continue playing football. A reporter later followed up to confirm that meant retirement, and Harbaugh confirmed that. You can check out his comments at the 5:30 mark of this video.
The Des Moines Register is now reporting Seneca Wallace told them he is not in fact retiring, and that he thinks the 49ers brought him in was to get Colt McCoy to take a paycut. Wallace also said he simply asked for and was granted his release.
The retirement thing is odd, but I imagine it is an issue of interpretation from the conversation. I suppose Harbaugh might be concerned about what people would think about the McCoy pay-cut, but given that he acknowledged Wallace was retiring, what is there to gain from saying so publicly like that? Someone was going to ask Wallace about it at some point. That part of it is a little odd, but whatever, right?
As for the Colt McCoy stuff? Well, that comment is not at all surprising. I think we had plenty of discussions in here about the 49ers decision to bring in Wallace. And considering how quickly McCoy re-did his deal soon after the signing, is anybody exactly floored by Wallace's suggestion?
Assuming this is all true (which seems logical), that's part of the cold-hearted nature of the NFL business. It might not always be fair, but when it comes to contracts, it can be rather cut-throat. I would hope this does not surprise people.