The San Francisco 49ers have met with linebacker Reuben Foster on Monday following his Sunday arrest for domestic violence, making criminal threats, and possession of an illegal assault weapon. NFL Network reporter Ian Rapoport tweeted the news, and said no quick resolution is expected.
The 49ers open their offseason workout program in April. Until then, players can use the facility, but cannot work with coaches outside of a strength and conditioning coach for safety purposes in the gym. This would be one exception where Foster can discuss his arrest and the fall-out from it with John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan.
The NFL’s domestic violence policy calls for a six-game suspension for a first offense. That is not a hard number because the NFL considers a variety of circumstances to increase or decrease the number of games a player is suspended. Like much of the league’s attempts at discipline, they do not seem to have a particularly consistent approach.
The 49ers cannot suspend Foster without pay for his arrest, but they can put him on the exempt list while the investigation is on-going. The exempt list is effectively a paid suspension, but player contracts are based on the 16-game schedule, not offseason weeks. There is nothing to really keep him away from, other than saying he can’t come to the facility to work out on his own. And so, the 49ers find themselves in a murky area of the NFL calendar.