Free agent kicker Robbie Gould hopes he won’t be a free agent much longer.
The 40-year-old Gould, who played for the 49ers the last six seasons, says he’s eager to play in 2023 and hoping he’ll be in a uniform when training camps open at the end of the month.
“I know training camp is coming up and I’m ready for the next opportunity,” Gould told NBCSportsBayArea.com. “And I’m sure these teams will give these young kids a chance and find out who has a chance to compete. I think things will get a lot more serious. But, yeah, I’m ready to go and looking forward to the next season.”
Gould said he would have loved an opportunity to remain in San Francisco, but the 49ers decided to go in another direction, trading for kicker Zane Gonzalez and then using a third-round draft pick on rookie kicker Jake Moody.
“I would’ve loved to have gone back there,” Gould said. “I told them I wanted to go back there. We never got an offer from the team and we never had a conversation about coming back.”
Still, Gould has no hard feelings toward the 49ers and called Kyle Shanahan, “the best head coach in the NFL.” Gould played well for the 49ers, particularly in the playoffs. He’s the NFL’s all-time record holder with 29 postseason field goal attempts without a miss (as well as 39 postseason extra point attempts without a miss). Now he’ll hope to extend that record, with whatever team will take him.
