The San Francisco 49ers opened their offseason workout program and it should surprise nobody that offensive tackle Anthony Davis was not on hand. Davis has yet to file his reinstatement papers, having said he will do it "later this year." He mentioned that Trent Baalke was giving him a headache, which brought up plenty of questions.
Davis's tweet was on April 1, so it could very well have been an April Fools joke. However, it would not surprise me if there were some issues in trying to get the situation rectified. As someone pointed out in a recent FanPost, Over The Cap broke down some potential issues in play in an Anthony Davis reinstatement.
The 49ers were able to reclaim a portion of his signing bonus. When a player signs a new contract, a signing bonus is prorated out five years or the length of the contract, whichever is shorter. The player gets the money up front, but for cap purposes, it is divided up. If a player retires before the end of the length of the proration, the team has the right to claim the prorated portion for unplayed years.
Over The Cap brought up an interesting part of the CBA with regard to retirement. Article 4, Section 9(a)(vi) states:
If the player returns to play for the Club in the subsequent season, then the Club must either (a) take the player back under his existing contract with no forfeiture of the remaining Forfeitable Salary Allocations, or (b) release the player and seek repayment of any remaining Forfeitable Salary Allocations for future League Years.
If Davis returns and the 49ers keep him, his contract starts back up, and the team would not be able to collect the remaining forfeitable money. However, if the 49ers were to release him upon reinstatement, the team could collect the remainder of his forfeitable signing bonus money. If they are either still displeased with his departure, or they don't think he is ready to get back in at right tackle, this is one option for them.
I would not be at all surprised if Davis's frustration with Baalke is because of a potential re-negotiation. Maybe Baalke has told Davis that if he returns, it would need to be to a restructured deal. Baalke might be telling Davis that if he does not restructure the deal, the 49ers will release him. The market is pretty soft right now, so Davis does not exactly have great leverage.