Richard Sherman offered a lucrative deal to join Monday Night Football before signing with 49ers

Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area wrote an in-depth piece about San Francisco 49ers cornerback Richard Sherman and his path to the NFL. It's worth the read if you haven't done so already.

Buried inside the insightful article was a side-note that Sherman, after suffering an Achilles injury in 2017 during his final year with the Seattle Seahawks, was presented with a tempting offer to potentially end his football career.

ESPN decided to gauge his interest in retiring and joining the broadcast team for "Monday Night Football" by offering the four-time Pro Bowl selection and three-time first-team All-Pro a lucrative contract, reports Maiocco.

Obviously, Sherman decided that his football journey was not yet complete, so he pushed on to recover from his injury and joined the division-rival 49ers. That's good news for the Niner Faithful, who have watched Sherman return to form and become a great leader for the young and talented defense.

ESPN, by the way, ended up signing Dallas Cowboys star Jason Witten, and that arrangement lasted just one season before the tight end decided to return to football.

Sherman is signed with the 49ers through next season. There will likely be similar opportunities for the cornerback after his football career is complete. That might not necessarily be in the broadcast booth, though.

In August, in addition to potentially becoming a broadcaster, Sherman expressed an interest in moving up the ranks within an NFL front office and one day being a general manager.

"I want to put a team together and manage it," Sherman said.