49ers euphoria was arguably the highest it’s been since the Harbaugh era last Friday, when John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan held a press conference to announce the signing of quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo to a five-year deal. The good vibes lasted just over 48 hours, however, after news broke Sunday evening that standout linebacker Reuben Foster had been arrested, again, this time on charges of domestic violence.
As of Monday morning details are still trickling in, but police announced that in addition to the domestic violence charge, Foster is also being charged with possession of an assault weapon and threats, and was arrested on Sunday morning in Los Gatos after a dispute with a long-time girlfriend. Foster was held on $75,000 bail and released at some point on Sunday evening.
How the 49ers are going to deal with this is still up in the air. The current regime of Lynch and Shanahan has dealt with an issue like this only once in their short time in charge, releasing cornerback Tremaine Brock a day after he was arrested on domestic violence charges last offseason.
49ers beat writer Matt Barrows joined Murph & Mac on Monday, and said that while the 49ers will treat the Foster case independently, it wouldn’t be surprising if the 49ers decide to part ways with the 31st overall pick in last year’s draft, depending on the specifics of the case.
“Given their past history, it’s not very vast given that it’s a brand new regime,” Barrows began. “We really only have one case to go on and that’s the Tremaine Brock incident from April of last year. Tremaine Brock was arrested for domestic violence in Santa Clara and released the next day, and he’d had no sort of prior issues with the law. So that was his first strike and it turned out to be his only strike with the 49ers.
“Reuben Foster has other strikes on his count right now. None of them are huge — a diluted sample at the scouting combine, he was sent home early after a “dispute” with a hospital technician at the combine, he had the misdemeanor marijuana arrest in Alabama last month — but those are all bad judgement issues. So, I think it’s very much in the realm of possibility that he could be gone. I think the 49ers will take it on a case-by-case basis. I don’t think there’s any sort of blanket policy. The initial reports of Tremaine Brock was that there were finger prints around the neck of Brock’s girlfriend. If they’re to that degree with Foster, I would imagine this is the last we are going to see of Reuben Foster with the 49ers.”
The 49ers selected Foster with the 31st overall pick in the first round of the 2017 Draft. Foster had a fantastic rookie season, ranking as the fourth best linebacker in football according to Pro Football Focus despite playing in only 10 games due to injury.
Listen to the full interview below. To hear Barrows on Foster, start from the beginning.