I don't blame cornerback Shareece Wright for asking for his release from the San Francisco 49ers the way some fans like to. I never blamed Brandon Jacobs when he complained after the 49ers signed him and didn't use him, and I never blamed LaMichael James when he was drafted and could not find a way to make his way onto the field.
These guys all want to play football, this is a career and this is a passion for most of them. I'd suggest that none of them were good enough at their jobs to force their way onto the field, so I don't think the 49ers were doing them any wrong, but I also don't blame them for wanting out. It's a different situation than when then-St. Louis Rams running back Zac Stacy showed a massive lack of confidence in his own abilities after they drafted Todd Gurley in the first round.
Wright didn't want out because he's not good enough to make the field, he wanted out because he's not on the field. Obviously, one of them is a product of the other and in this situation, one cannot exist without the other, but if Wright feels like he has a better shot of playing elsewhere, then more power to him, I say. I think guys like Jacobs, James and Wright could be a little more mature and handled things differently, but I also have no idea what was said behind closed doors, either.
But there are two big takeaways from this, as far as I'm concerned.
The first is simple: the 49ers are better off without these players. If Wright doesn't want to remain in San Francisco and help the team in whatever way he can, that's fine. I don't think he's a quitter and I don't think he should be judged for his decision, but it also couldn't have helped anything to have him around in the locker room. He didn't want to be there, and with the team already struggling, his attitude certainly could not have helped.
The second is a little more complicated: why does this keep happening to the 49ers? Look, they are obviously not the only team to sign players that don't work out or draft guys that wind up falling well short of expectations, but guys like Jacobs, James and Wright were so obviously not going to succeed with the 49ers early on. Jacobs was superfluous in the context of what the 49ers did at the position, James was never a fit for the kind of offense they wanted to run and Wright really didn't have much to offer on the free agent market to begin with.
But on top of that, why do these signings end like this. I've seen players not fit elsewhere, but hearing that that relatively big-named player is inactive and requesting a trade within weeks of the start of the season, I just don't see it. It doesn't really happen elsewhere that often, and I wonder why it happens to the 49ers. Why are signs or draft picks made with what seems like little foresight?
It's strange, is all I'm saying. Good luck to Wright going forward, but the 49ers are better off without him.