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Aldon Smith

Latest On Aldon Smith

July 18th, 2014 at 5:55pm CST by Dallas Robinson

A Santa Clara Superior Court judge sentenced 49ers linebacker Aldon Smith to 12 days in jail following his arrests for DUI and weapons offenses, but he can serve the time on a work crew while being placed on probation, reports Tracey Kaplan of the Bay Area News Group (via Twitter). Smith will also face $2K fine, be banned from owning guns or ammunition during his three-year probation period, and be forced to serve an additional 235 hours of community service, according to Kaplan’s colleague at the Bay Area News Group, Cam Inman.

Per Kaplan, the work crew sessions will take place on Mondays, and with Mondays being the usual 49ers off day, Smith won’t miss any practice time, tweets Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea,com. As Mike Garafolo of Fox Sport 1 adds (on Twitter), Smith’s Monday work sessions “magically” conclude the week before San Francisco’s first Monday Night Football game with the Rams.

On the whole, it appears as though Smith won’t face any serious punishment for his transgressions, and any legal ramifications shouldn’t affect his ability to play for the 49ers. However, the 24-year-old isn’t out of the woods just yet, as an NFL suspension could be in the works. Jim Trotter of Sports Illustrated tweets a “complete guess” as to Smith’s possible NFL penalty — a four-game ban that is negotiated down to two or three contests, which sounds fair to me.

Additionally, although Smith’s 2015 fifth-year option was exercised, but that contract is guaranteed for injury only until the first day of the 2015 league year. Smith got off lightly following this situation, but if similar incidents continue to occur, it’s fair to wonder if the Niners might decide to part ways with the talented, but mercurial, pass-rusher. General manager Trent Baalke did release a statement, saying that the team “will continue to support Aldon’s efforts to grow personally from this experience.”

Extra Points: Cowboys, Smith, Bucs, Jackson

July 9th, 2014 at 10:35pm CST by Zachary Links

As a part of a roundtable discussion on FOX Sports Live, Randy Moss was quite critical of Jason Garrett and the Cowboys‘ coaching staff, writes Jon Machota of the Dallas Morning News. “When you look on paper, it’s every year that the Dallas Cowboys and Oakland Raiders have a lot of talent on their team,” Moss said. “I mean, talented, top-end players. For the Dallas Cowboys to keep sputtering every year, it’s not the players – some of it falls on the players – but go on up top and see what’s going on.” More out of the NFC..

  • 49ers linebacker Aldon Smith has left CAA Sports to join up with Relativity Sports, according to Liz Mullen of the Sports Business Journal (on Twitter). NFL agents Doug Hendrickson & CJ Laboy will represent the talented and troubled athlete.
  • Jason Fitzgerald’s series on teams’ best and worst contracts continues today at OverTheCap.com with a closer look at the Rams’ cap situation. Offensive tackle Jake Long and tight end Jared Cook earn respective best and worst contract honors for St. Louis for the second straight year, according to Fitzgerald.
  • The Buccaneers badly need change and that all starts with new head coach Lovie Smith, writes Chris Korman of USA Today. Last year, Tampa Bay had a weird season under coach Greg Schiano and notched just four wins despite having big name talents like Darrelle Revis and receiver Vincent Jackson. It’s already clear that Smith is ready to take a different approach. “This is what I’ve found from men: They will do whatever you ask them to do if you look them in the eye and they feel like you know what you’re talking about and you have a plan,” Smith said. “I never had a hard time. I’ve dealt with very few players I haven’t been able to motivate and get them to do what we ask them to do. They’ll listen.“
  • New Colts linebacker D’Qwell Jackson says that he’s happy to be in the same locker room as quarterback Andrew Luck, writes Kevin Bowen of Colts.com. “It’s a breath of fresh air to see a quarterback on the other side that is learning, getting better each and every day. He’s making my game much better. He does a phenomenal job in practice of managing the offense, making the right reads. Whatever I can do to help him, great, and vice versa.”
  • In today’s mailbag, Craig Kelley of Colts.com writes that he believes Brandon McKinney can author a new chapter in his career this season. The defensive lineman signed with the Colts earlier this offseason and is looking to get back in the groove after two knee surgeries.

Aldon Smith Won’t Face Charges For Bomb Threat

July 1st, 2014 at 12:30pm CST by Ben Levine

The Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office with not charge 49ers linebacker Aldon Smith in connection to the LAX bomb threat incident in April, reports ESPN.com’s Bill Williamson (via Twitter). Cam Inman of the San Jose Mercury News tweets that the player has a July 30 hearing to discuss the incident, and Tom Pelissero of USA Today tweets that the Attorney’s Office has the right to file charges up to a year after the arrest.

Smith was arrested by Los Angeles International Airport police on April 13 after making an alleged bomb threat to a TSA agent. The player has maintained his innocence, telling Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea.com that “a lot of these things are being painted in a picture that’s not true.”

While the news must certainly be a relief to Smith, the player still faces another legal matter. Smith is scheduled to be sentenced on July 25 after he pleaded “no contest” to three felony weapons charges, two misdemeanor DUI counts and a count for a license plate switch. If Smith comes away clean handed, he’ll still need to face the NFL, which could fine or suspend the player based on the league’s personal conduct policy.

Nonetheless, the 49ers still exercised Smith’s fifth-year option in early May, locking him in for $9.754MM in 2015. 

NFC Extra Points: Saints, Cobb, Nelson, Dockett, Ansah, Harbaugh

May 24th, 2014 at 1:05pm CST by Matt Feminis
  • Three players are vying for the Saints’ No. 2 cornerback job — Champ Bailey, Patrick Robinson and Corey White — and ESPN’s Mike Triplett thinks “it’s pretty close to a three-way tie between that trio for the No. 2 job — or they may all be used in situations that favor their skill sets.” As for Robinson in particular, Triplett says he will get a legitimate shot because otherwise they would have released him to alleviate their salary cap crunch. The 2010 first-rounder hasn’t lived up to expectations, and is entering the final year of his rookie deal counting $2.8MM against the cap.
  • It would be a surprise if the Packers didn’t extend the contract of Randall Cobb or Jordy Nelson (both free agents in 2015) before September, writes ESPN’s Rob Demovsky, who says Cobb is a must re-sign while Nelson is a “little bit trickier” because he’ll be 29 this season.
  • Soon to be 33, Cardinals defensive tackle Darnell Dockett has two years remaining on his deal. He will count $8.75MM against the cap in 2014 and is scheduled to count $9.8MM against the cap in 2015, but ESPN’s Josh Weinfuss says after the upcoming season the team will ask him to take a pay cut or likely release him.
  • Aldon Smith‘s future is unknown thanks to his legal issues, and 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh is already aggravated talking about it, writes Aaron Wilson at National Football Post. “I’m not going to get into speculating on what’s going to happen, what could happen, what will happen. There’s nothing really further that I can add to this line of questioning. You can take bamboo shoots and stick ’em under my fingernails and there still wouldn’t be any more I could add further to this discussion.”
  • Also at NFPost, Greg Gabriel spotlights a handful of second-year players in the NFC North poised to break out in 2014, including Lions defensive end Ziggy Ansah. Says Gabriel: “As a rookie last year, [Ansah] had 32 total tackles and eight sacks. With a year of learning the game under his belt, I expect those numbers to nearly double. There is no telling how good Ansah can eventually become.”
  • Jackson Jeffcoat, a defensive end out of Texas, garnered a $15k signing bonus from the Seahawks as an undrafted free agent, reports the Seattle Times’ Bob Condotta, who has the full list of the team’s signings/bonuses.

49ers Exercise Option On Aldon Smith

May 2nd, 2014 at 3:15pm CST by Zachary Links

The 49ers announced (via Twitter) that they have exercised the fifth-year option on Aldon Smith. The deadline for exercising the fifth-year options on players in the 2011 draft is tonight but San Francisco won’t take this one to the wire. As shown in PFR’s fifth-year option tracker, Smith will earn $9.754MM in 2015 – the same salary that he would have earned with the 2014 transition tag.

NFL: San Francisco 49ers at Arizona Cardinals

Of course, there was a great deal of debate both within the 49ers’ front office and from observers on the outside over whether the option should have been exercised. Last month, Smith was detained at Los Angeles International Airport following an incident where he allegedly falsely indicated that he possessed a bomb. The incident was especially disturbing since it wasn’t Smith’s first off-the-field issue. The 24-year-old missed five games last season while spending time in a drug and alcohol rehabilitation facility.

The 49ers hoped to know the results of Smith’s legal issues before this deadline but the hearing continuance made it impossible, tweets Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network. Smith met with 49ers GM Trent Baalke earlier today and informed the rest of the front office that the pow-wow went well, according to Tim Kawakami of the Mercury News (on Twitter). It’s conceivable that Baalke & Co. might have turned down the option if the meeting Smith did not go well, but that’s only speculation at this point.

Baalke may have tipped his hand last week when he told reporters that he hoped Smith would be with the team in “2016 and 2017 and 2018.” While Smith’s troubles have certainly given the SF front office pause, the talent of the outside linebacker was obviously too strong for the team to part with. In 2012, Smith made his debut as a starter and racked up 19.5 sacks and 49 tackles. Last season, in eleven games (eight starts), Smith registered 34 tackles and 8.5 sacks.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Latest On 49ers, Aldon Smith

April 25th, 2014 at 1:37pm CST by Zachary Links

This afternoon, 49ers GM Trent Baalke told reporters, including Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle (on Twitter), that he hopes Aldon Smith is with the team in “2016 and 2017 and 2018.” In the wake of Smith’s airport incident, many have wondered if the 49ers want to stay the course with the talented but troubled defensive force.

Baalke went on to say, “We’re a family. You don’t just open a door and toss people out of it,” tweets Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee. However, he stopped short of saying that he’ll pick up Smith’s option for 2015, according to Cam Inman of the Bay Area News Group (on Twitter). The GM added that he has no plans to trade running back LaMichael James.

Even though Baalke threw his support behind Smith today, it’s hard to get a read on what the team will do with Smith’s fifth-year option. Tim Kawakami of the Mercury News wrote earlier this month that he got the sense from club officials that Smith would not play for San Francisco in 2014. Meanwhile, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com wrote last week that the 49ers were not expected to trigger the option.

Meanwhile, the 49ers were said to be shopping James in an effort to move up in the draft. For his part, James hasn’t asked for a trade, but he would welcome the opportunity to see more playing time elsewhere. As it stands, James could be behind Frank Gore, Kendall Hunter, and possible Marcus Lattimore on San Francisco’s depth chart.

NFC West Links: Rams, Aldon Smith, Pryor

April 23rd, 2014 at 3:40pm CST by Luke Adams

Having already rounded up several items out of the NFC North and NFC East this afternoon, let’s head west and check in on the latest Rams, 49ers, and Seahawks links….

  • Jason Fitzgerald of OverTheCap.com gives his thoughts on the Rams‘ moves in free agency. It was a relatively inactive offseason for St. Louis and it would have been even less active had the Raiders not welched on their deal with offensive lineman Rodger Saffold. Meanwhile, given the Rams’ limited offensive talent, Kenny Britt could prove to be a wise pickup — the troubled wide receiver is due to make just over $500K guaranteed, so the deal won’t hurt the club too badly if he’s a bust. All in all, Fitzgerald gives the Rams a C+ for their pickups in free agency.
  • In his newest piece for the National Football Post, former agent Joel Corry delves into Aldon Smith’s fifth-year option dilemma for the 49ers. However, as Corry notes, San Francisco’s decision on that 2015 option won’t be the end of the Smith saga.
  • Terrelle Pryor has the talent to be the Seahawks‘ latest reclamation project, writes Jerry Brewer of the Seattle Times. The speedy quarterback can be saved from the NFL scrapheap by coach Pete Carroll, but only if he realizes he needs the Seahawks more than they need him, Brewer opines.

Zach Links contributed to this post.

Extra Points: Orton, Roos, Savage

April 21st, 2014 at 10:52pm CST by Rory Parks

Today marked the first day of voluntary offseason workouts for the Cowboys, and backup QB Kyle Orton was absent, according to Charean Williams of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Given conflicting reports earlier this offseason concerning whether Orton wanted to retire from the game, Calvin Watkins of ESPNDallas.com writes that it is a “strange absence.”

However, Watkins points to earlier statements made by Orton’s agent, David Dunn, who said retirement was not an option for his client. And, as Williams points out, these are voluntary workouts, and the Cowboys remain hopeful that Orton will return (Twitter link). Nonetheless, this will be an interesting story to keep an eye on in the coming days, much more interesting than most stories involving backup signal-callers.

Now for some some quick notes from around the league to close out the evening:

49ers Notes: Smith, Crabtree, Fiedorowicz

April 21st, 2014 at 12:01pm CST by Luke Adams

Although the 49ers have yet to officially make a decision one way or the other on Aldon Smith‘s 2015 option, it appears as if the team is leaning toward declining it. As Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee writes, picking up that fifth-year option looks like the smarter on-field move, given Smith’s impact as a pass rusher and the lack of significant risk the option entails (it’s guaranteed for injury only).

However, as Barrows continues, the reason the team is strongly considering turning down the option is because it would send a bad message. Given Smith’s recent behavior, it doesn’t make a lot of sense for the Niners to turn around and give him a “reward” of nearly $10MM.

As the club weighs its options with Smith, let’s check out a few more Niners-related items….

  • Recalling that Michael Crabtree wasn’t easy for the Niners to sign when the team first drafted him, Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea.com previews the upcoming negotiations for the veteran receiver as he enters a contract year.
  • Iowa tight end C.J. Fiedorowicz is visiting the 49ers today, a source tells Aaron Wilson of the National Football Post. According to Wilson, Fiedorowicz previously worked out privately for the Buccaneers.
  • Oklahoma cornerback Aaron Colvin‘s visit with the 49ers is happening today and tomorrow, tweets Barrows.

NFC West Rumors: 49ers, Kaepernick, Rams

April 18th, 2014 at 9:56am CST by Luke Adams

This morning’s round of rumors relating to NFC West clubs heavily involves the 49ers, with a specific focus on a couple San Francisco players dealing with off-field issues. Let’s dive in and check out the latest….

  • The 49ers aren’t expected to pick up Aldon Smith‘s fifth-year option for 2015, reports Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (via Twitter). Smith’s play on the field makes him worthy of such an investment, but given his off-field issues and what we’ve heard recently about his future in San Francisco (or lack thereof), it’s not surprising that the club would be reluctant to extend his rookie contract by a year.
  • Negotiations with Colin Kaepernick on a long-term extension have been tabled by the 49ers for the moment, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com. San Francisco still hopes to get something done with its quarterback before the 2014 season begins, but the club is waiting for more clarity on an investigation being conducted by the Miami PD into an incident involving Kaepernick.
  • It’s a big day for the Rams and Clemson receiver Sammy Watkins, tweets Rapoport, noting that the team is sending a contingent to Clemson today for a private workout with Watkins. The Texans aren’t believed to be considering drafting a receiver at No. 1, but the Rams could use a wideout, meaning Watkins – the best one on the board – could be in play at No. 2.
  • The Seahawks will be conducting a private workout with Boise State defensive end Demarcus Lawrence, according to Adam Caplan of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Caplan adds the Redskins and Steelers to the list of teams who will host Lawrence for a visit, and says the Saints will also be privately working him out (Twitter link).
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