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Arik Armstead Feels "Disrespected" by the 49ers

Here are my takeaways from what Armstead said.
Grant Cohn|
Aug 19, 2023; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers defensive end Arik Armstead (91)
Aug 19, 2023; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers defensive end Arik Armstead (91) | Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports

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San Francisco 49ersJacksonville Jaguars

Poor Arik Armstead.

After nine long years of giving the 49ers slightly above average play at the defensive tackle position, the team asked him to take a pay cut because his body is breaking down and his production is falling off, and he refused because he could get more money playin for the Jacksonville Jaguars. That's business.

But Armstead also has a podcast, and on it he recently said he felt personally disrespected by the 49ers this offseason.

"A lot has happened this offseason," said Armstead, the master of the obvious. "I'm no longer with the 49ers. I have a new team. First off, I want to say I don't have any animosity toward the organization, Kyle Shanahan, John Lynch, the York family. I did feel extremely disrespected. They extended an offer to me for (bleeped out) million dollars after nine years of me being there. The fans deserve to know what happened. I had to make some decisions."

Here are my takeaways from what Armstead said.

1. He clearly does have animosity toward the organization because he says he feels disrespected. That's what animosity is.

2. He bleeped out the exact offer the 49ers made him because he wants you to listen to his podcast, which means he's doing all this for attention, views and money.

3. The 49ers didn't owe him anything for the nine years he had been there. In fact, they paid him more than $85 million for good run defense and 33.5 sacks in 116 career games. If anything. they overpaid him. And if anyone owed anything, it was Armstead who owed the 49ers a pay cut, because he was one of the highest-paid players on the team and he missed 13 games the past two seasons.

Instead, Armstead made a calculated business decision that he would rather jump ship and make as much money as possible with the Jaguars than finish his career with the 49ers, a legendary franchise that drafted him and gave him generation wealth.

Fair enough, Arik, but don't throw yourself a pity party on the way out of town.

You got what you want. Enjoy Jacksonville.

Published
Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

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