The 49ers are placing their franchise tag on Robbie Gould, and I’m not surprised at all. He’s been about the best kicker in the league in recent years, and they didn’t want to have to get into a bidding war to stop him from heading back to Chicago.

The Bears released Gould in a contract-driven move a week before the start of the 2016 season, and that proved to be a remarkably bad decision. They’ve mostly struggled with at that position the last three seasons, using Connor Barth, Cairo Santos, Mike Nugent and Cody Parkey. They ended up paying Parkey a lot more than it would have cost to keep Gould and recently released him. Parkey famously hit the uprights 4 times in a game against the Lions and missed a 43-yard attempt that would have won a playoff game against the Eagles.

Gould, meanwhile, has been the league’s most accurate kicker over the last three years, missing only 3 of 85 field goal attempts. The 49ers were able to tap into that goodness for a total of $4 million over the last two years. Parkey’s contract included $9 million in guaranteed money, and he’s gone after one year.

FIELD GOAL ACCURACY (2016-2018)
PlayerFGFGAPct
Robbie Gould828596.5%
Justin Tucker10711593.0%
Matt Bryant889790.7%
Greg Zuerlein849390.3%
Harrison Butker626989.9%
Josh Lambo647387.7%
Stephen Gostkowski9110487.5%
Wil Lutz8710087.0%
Graham Gano738486.9%
Ryan Succop839686.5%
Matt Prater8910386.4%
Adam Vinatieri799285.9%
Stephen Hauschka849885.7%
Ka'imi Fairbairn576785.1%
Dustin Hopkins748884.1%
Jake Elliott526283.9%
Jason Myers718583.5%
Chris Boswell698383.1%
Mason Crosby718682.6%
Sebastian Janikowski516282.3%
Cody Parkey647882.1%
Brandon McManus739180.2%
Phil Dawson556979.7%
Chandler Catanzaro627879.5%
Dan Bailey638078.8%

Gould doesn’t have a bazooka leg, but he’s been very reliable on longer kicks. Even on field goals from 50-plus yards, he’s been the most accurate in the league. Among active players with at least 10 attempts, only three others have converted over 70 percent.

50-YARD FIELD GOALS
PlayerFGFGAPct
Robbie Gould2937.784
Matt Prater4661.754
Stephen Gostkowski2535.714
Justin Tucker3854.704
Phil Dawson4260.700
Ka'imi Fairbairn710.700
Matt Bryant3856.679
Stephen Hauschka2740.675
Dan Bailey2842.667
Josh Lambo1015.667
Adam Vinatieri4367.642
Jake Elliott711.636
Chandler Catanzaro1016.625
Jason Myers1626.615
Kai Forbath1118.611
Wil Lutz915.600
Connor Barth1830.600
Greg Zuerlein2848.583
Graham Gano2035.571
Ryan Succop2036.556
Sebastian Janikowski58105.552
Mason Crosby3464.531
Caleb Sturgis1325.520
Dustin Hopkins918.500
Randy Bullock816.500
Cairo Santos714.500
Brandon McManus1328.464
Mike Nugent1330.433

I expect Gould will be one of the top 4 kickers on my board this year. Typically I prefer kickers from good teams. Teams that win more games score more points. Of the last 35 teams to score at least 140 kicking points in a season, only one finished with a losing record (the 49ers, going 6-10 in 2017, when Gould scored 145 points).

I can’t at this point promise the 49ers will fit into the winning team profile. They’re stuck in the NFC West with the Rams and Seahawks. But Kyle Shanahan has been a kicker-friendly coach. With Shanahan calling the offensive plays, Matt Bryant scored a league-high 158 kicking points in 2016. And in San Francisco the last two years, Gould has scored 145 and 126 points despite the team finishing with 6-10 and 4-12 records).

I would be comfortable with Gould as my kicker. I would be willing to pay a little more for him, rather than playing kicker roulette in the final round of a draft.

—Ian Allan