Kendrick Bourne is one of several players on the San Francisco 49ers who may have played his final game with the team on Sunday, but it sounds like he'd prefer to extend his time in the Bay Area well past this season if he has any say in the matter.
Bourne just finished his fourth season with the 49ers and is now slated to be an unrestricted free agent after re-signing with the team as a restricted free agent in the spring. Bourne has 132 catches for 1,693 yards and 11 touchdowns since joining the 49ers as an undrafted free agent out of Eastern Washington in 2017. He has also established himself over his career as one of the team's top depth options at receiver, but the 49ers have a number of key players to re-sign this offseason in addition to Bourne and a limited amount of money with which to get it done.
Therefore, there's a chance another team could offer Bourne more money, as well as a chance the 49ers could simply decide they need to prioritize other areas. But after Sunday's season finale against the Seattle Seahawks, Bourne made it clear he hopes his NFL future is in the Bay Area.
"I for sure want to be here," Bourne told reporters after the 49ers fell 26-23 to the Seahawks Sunday. "I love this organization. They've taken care of me since they brought me undrafted, so I'll always have a love for them, and just letting it play out how it's going to play out. I don't really know. I want to be back, so I'll just let my agents do their job and see what they're talking about. Whatever the best situation for me is is what I'm going to take."
While some players in Bourne's situation may want to find the place that will give them the biggest pay raise, Bourne seems to value how well he fits with the 49ers. There's no doubt that a bigger contract would serve as a nice reward, but Bourne says his comfort level with the 49ers will play a role in what he decides to do next season if the team wants him back.
"That's a big part. My relationships with everybody here are definitely genuine and authentic," Bourne said. "You never know what happens when you go to a different team. You never know -- I might not fit in somewhere else how I fit in here. They accept me here how I am -- the personality, goofiness, everything about me they just accept and let me be myself. I feel why that's why I'm so successful here."
One thing helping Bourne's cause is what seems to be a desire on the 49ers' end to keep as many pieces of their current roster intact as they can. The core of the roster is good enough to put the team back in contention when healthy, and perhaps the 49ers will view Bourne as part of the core they want to maintain.
"I think they definitely have the idea of getting the same team back together," Bourne said. "Whoever wants more money that might not come back or whatever it might be might mess some things up, but I think that's definitely their plan is to get this same group together because we just mold together well."
The 2021 free agency period is set to begin on March 18, and chances are the 49ers will have made their decision on Bourne in the days or weeks before that date arrives. As of now, Bourne's future is unclear, but that's mostly because no one knows what the 49ers will choose to do. If it was his choice, the decision would probably already be made.
"I really don't know (what will happen). I don't know what teams are interested in me, so we'll just see," Bourne said. "But definitely I want to be back. I know next year this team is going to go really far. I can see it. It's just too clear to see."