John Middlekauff is a former NFL scout and current contributor to The Athletic. He joined KNBR on Monday to share his opinion on the Reuben Foster situation and how he believes the San Francisco 49ers might deal with it.
On Sunday, Foster was arrested at his home in Los Gatos and booked into the Santa Clara County Jail on suspicion of domestic violence, threats, and possession of an assault weapon. He met with general manager John Lynch, head coach Kyle Shanahan, and possibly other 49ers officials on Monday as the team continues to investigate the situation.
Foster's arrest was his second in a month. The last incident took place on January 12 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama for second-degree possession of marijuana. Foster has a court date set for February 28 for that earlier arrest.
In April of 2017, Lynch and Shanahan faced a similar situation when starting cornerback Tramaine Brock was arrested in Santa Clara on a domestic violence charge. He was swiftly released by the team.
"When you're dealing with people's lives, I would never want to use a situation as sending a message," Shanahan said following Brock's release. "It's just us trying to do the right thing, whatever that is. I think each situation is different. You've got to look into every situation, gather all the information you can. When you do, you try as hard as you can to make the right decision."
Brock had his charges dismissed four months later.
The Reuben Foster situation is different. Lynch and Shanahan inherited Brock from a previous regime. Foster was a first-round draft pick by the current regime and is already one of the most talented players at his position. Because of that, Middlekauff believes the 49ers will give him every benefit of the doubt.
"Star players are treated differently," Middlekauff said on the "Tolbert & Lund" show. "We've seen it in the Bay Area, obviously with Aldon Smith. To me, if he had hit her in the face or something, they would be in a pretty tough predicament (and) probably have to cut him ... You're just not getting cut for dragging her outside the house."
Middlekauff questions whether the 49ers can even trust Foster right now. "He knows he was kind of on a zero-tolerance policy," he said.
Middlekauff hasn't heard anything about the incident that makes him believe Foster has done anything that would force the 49ers to cut ties with their star linebacker.
"He's so good, it would have to be just hellacious, a picture just so bad for them to be -- obviously, the worst case scenario would be to release him," he continued. "The dragging her out, that immediately to me means he's fine. Not fine, like obviously it's going to be a problem, but he's not going to get released for that."
Before last year's draft, one NFL general manager told Middlekauff that his team had no concerns about Foster during the season but were terrified what might happen during the offseason because CBA rules prevent teams from assigning someone to be with a player all of the time.
"I'm pretty sure Lynch can't just randomly text him," Middlekauff said. "That's in the CBA."
Foster was a model citizen during the 2017 season, and the media even fell in love with the charisma and enthusiasm he displayed during interviews. His trouble started once the season was over and he was on his own.
Foster is likely facing a suspension from the NFL that will force him to miss games during the 2018 season. Outside of that, Middlekauff doesn't believe the 49ers can do much to discipline the linebacker.
"He knows they're not going to cut him," Middlekauff said. "And even if they did, the reality is, he wouldn't make it through waivers. Someone else would claim him. Now, I'm not saying that's his mindset, but there's really not much they can do.
"One thing they can tell him -- now this isn't their doing -- he's going to get suspended. We saw with [Cowboys running back] Ezekiel Elliott, he didn't get ultimately charged, right? Nothing happened with that case, and he still got suspended six games."
You can listen to the entire interview with Middlekauff below.
