San Francisco 49ers general manager Trent Baalke met with the media on Wednesday, and he had a chance to update Justin Smith's status...well, sort of. According to Matt Barrows, Baalke said he would meet with Justin Smith after the NFL Combine to discuss whether Smith will return in 2015.
This all comes following Matt Maiocco mentioning that Smith has been visiting the 49ers facility "regularly" during the offseason. Baalke had previously said in January that he would wait a few weeks to discuss retirement with Smith. Given that Smith is at the facility with some kind of regularity, my guess is they had some initial discussions and Smith is going to wait and see how he feels as the offseason progresses.
It would not surprise me at all if a decision really did not come for a while now. The 49ers would save $4.25 million in cap space if Smith retired. Since he is entering the final year of his contract, that savings would not be impacted by a pre- or post-June 1 decision. Of course, if the 49ers have any particular plans for free agency that involve a decent amount of money, they might push to get an answer before March 10. If the 49ers are not expected to make a splash, they can likely afford to wait until the summer, if that's what it takes for Smith to make his decision.
On a side note, I might have a more formal "Hey I'm back" thread later today. Weather and mechanical issues resulted in me getting back to DC at 3am this morning, so I'm jumping right back in here. Huge thanks to James Brady for all the great work he did over the last week.