Arik Armstead Reveals the "Disrespectful" Offer From the 49ers

It has been unclear as to how much of a pay cut the 49ers wanted Arik Armstead wanted to take until he revealed their "disrespectful" offer on his podcast.

Feb 7, 2024; Las Vegas, NV, USA; San Francisco 49ers defensive end Arik Armstead (91) during a press | Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

No one could've foresaw Arik Armstead and the San Francisco 49ers parting ways this offseason.

The 49ers wanted Armstead to take a pay cut, which Armstead refused. He would end up getting released and signing with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch both spoke on how it hurt them to see Armstead go, but neither revealed why or how much of pay cut they wanted Armstead to take.

Well, that became clear on Thursday when Armstead revealed on his podcast called Third and Long the pay cut offer from the 49ers that "disrespected" him. Here is what he had to say.

"They extended an offer to me of $6 million for a one-year deal with incentives to go up to eight," said Armstead. "When they sent that over, I did feel extremely disrespected. I don't feel that level of compensation is nowhere near the type of player that I am.

"Not even just the type of player that I am, it's what I've committed to the game, what I've committed to my team, what I've committed to my organization and my community. I didn't feel like it was representative of who I am as a player and a person."

It's a business. These requests from teams to a player to take a pay cut is common. However, I totally understand why Armstead felt disrespected. For starters, I was on the 49ers' side for wanting Armstead to take a pay cut based solely on his body starting to break down.

But I didn't expect the 49ers to approach Armstead with an offer that has him making two-thirds of what he was supposed to originally make. That is insane to me. This whole time I had believed they asked him to take around $4 million give or take. I was far off as they would want him to take a $12 million cut.

The 49ers better hope that their "nickel and diming" methods don't come back to haunt them with their release of Armstead. That means his replacements in Malik Collins and Jordan Elliot better pan out, or they will start to look at in a funny light.