Aldon Smith has been released by the San Francisco 49ers following the latest arrest for the linebacker on charges of a DUI along with a hit and run and now Smith will become a free agent, but reports have teams likely waiting until after training camp and the start of the season to sign Smith.
According to Pro Football Talk, Smith has been released by the 49ers following his arrest on an alleged DUI and it comes after Smith missed time last season while in rehab. ESPN reported two days ago that the 49ers wanted to keep Smith "long term" and that he has been "maturing" this offseason. Trent Baalke said that he wanted to keep Smith with the 49ers and that he wanted him to remain there "long term" but clearly that is not happening anymore.
Smith just changed up his contract for this year and basically made it a game by game deal to show the team that he has matured. Smith now is gone from the 49ers and now the defense could have a very hard time getting back to the level they were at a couple years ago. According to CSN Bay Area, Smith was "booked in Santa Clara County jail" on Friday morning after being arrested for a DUI and a hit and run accident. Smith has 44 sacks in 50 games and he has been a very productive player in his career.
Smith broke out onto the scene in his first two seasons, as he put up 14 sacks and 19.5 sacks over those years for the Niners. Smith did not miss a game for the team in that time and then in 2013 he had 8.5 sacks, while last season he had two sacks in seven games for the team. Teams will be interested in Smith, as he has shown that he is a very talented linebacker and productive player. Clearly Smith has some issues to deal with and Mike Freeman at Bleacher Report writes that a league exec said that teams likely will not sign Smith quickly.
According to Freeman on Twitter, an NFL GM said in a text that Smith will "not" be in an "NFL uniform until next season." The same GM said that teams "for now" will "not be touching Smith" and that he could get a "12 game suspension" based on this and his other issues in the past.
The Niners have undergone some major changes this season on defense, as five of the seven top tacklers for the team are no longer there. The Niners have lost for various reasons: Perrish Cox, Justin Smith, Ray McDonald, Chris Culliver, Chris Borland, Patrick Willis and now Smith. Smith bet on himself with the agreement he had with the Niners about his contract this season and clearly he has lost that bet.
Smith is considered to be one of the most talented players in the league at his position, but he has not been able to get things together off the field and now that has pushed him out of San Francisco. The Niners have had major changeover from last season on both sides of the ball and this comes as Jim Tomsula is taking over for Jim Harbaugh, who took the team to the playoffs and won division titles in San Fran.
