49ers News: Robbie Gould Contract Talks 'Not Dead,' Per GM John Lynch

The San Francisco 49ers are not ruling out the possibility of signing kicker Robbie Gould to a multiyear deal after placing the franchise tag on him last month.

"We had a conversation with his representation at the combine," general manager John Lynch said at the NFL's annual meetings, according to Chris Biderman of the Sacramento Bee.

"The franchise [tag] was something we have at our disposal that, yeah, we're gonna use because he's a very good player and we don't want to let him go, but we worked really hard to try to get a deal done. And that didn't happen, and so I think we understand that and we move forward accordingly. That's not dead, either."

Under the franchise tag, the kicker would is scheduled to make $4.97 million in 2019. That would make him the second-highest paid kicker in the league, per Spotrac, behind only Justin Tucker ($5.1 million) of the Baltimore Ravens.

Prior to arriving in the Bay Area in 2017, Gould spent 11 years with the Chicago Bears and one with the New York Giants. And while he had been solid throughout his career, he has been virtually automatic with the Niners.

The Penn State alum has gone 72-of-75 (96 percent) on field-goal attempts and 55-off-59 (93.2 percent) on extra-point attempts in two seasons with San Francisco. He led the NFL by converting 97.1 percent (33-of-34) of field-goal attempts last year.

"This might have been the best two-year stretch I've had in my entire career, one of the best in the history of the game," Gould said in January, per Cam Inman of the Mercury News. "It just kind of worked since I've been here. It's been pretty easy."

The 36-year-old has made 87.7 percent of the field-goal attempts in his career.

Not only has Gould performed at a high level on the field, but he has enjoyed his time with San Francisco off the field as well.

"The organization checks a lot of boxes for me, from community relations to having a lot of respect for the organization, the history, the ownership group," Gould added. "They're committed to winning. For me and my family and things we've gone through, they've been there for us."

The two sides have until July 15 to try to work out a multiyear deal.