San Francisco 49ers general manager Trent Baalke told reporters on Tuesday night that the team is planning to keep linebacker Aldon Smith past the 2015 NFL season as long as Smith is willing to re-sign with the 49ers.
"We’re going to work hard to make sure that he remains here,” Baalke said, via an Associated Press report.
One of the most dynamic pass rushers in the game when he's on his mark, Smith is entering a contract year just one season after serving a nine-game suspension for violations of the NFL's personal conduct and substance abuse policies.
However, Smith's past transgressions appear to be in the rearview mirror for now. At least that's the way it seems with Baalke.
"We don’t talk about what we’re doing within negotiations,” Baalke said. “I think he understands, his agent understands what we would like to do, and we’re going to work hard at it. Now when that gets done, if it gets done during the season, I can’t answer that. He knows where we stand and my understanding is he would love to be here, and we would certainly love to keep him here.”
This past March, Smith restructured his contract into a more incentive-based, team-friendly deal that gives the 49ers relative outs should he run afoul of the law or league policies again. It's unclear if a new contract would contain such terms.
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