SANTA CLARA — The way John Lynch was able to fleece the Chicago Bears and turn the trade into both Solomon Thomas and Reuben Foster is still the buzz around the NFL. Other executives are jealous of the haul the 49ers are bringing home from Day 1 of the NFL Draft.
But there are reasons 29 teams passed on Foster. And it wasn’t solely because of his diluted drug test or his incident at the NFL Combine.
USA Today’s Tom Pelissero is reporting one NFL team thinks Foster needs additional surgery on his rotator cuff. Here’s the scoop.
At least one team’s medical staff felt Foster needs another surgery to fix the torn rotator cuff in one of his shoulders or else he’ll be playing through pain. An executive for another team said the shoulder issue is “problematic, and the way he plays, how long can he hold up?”
There’s no doubting Foster plays a violent style of football. A week ago when reports surfaced about his shoulder, Foster’s agent did his best to clear things up on Twitter. Foster underwent the rotator cuff surgery in February and was given a four month timetable to recover. He reportedly played through the pain during the end of the season for the Crimson Tide.
Real info from combine recheck: @ferrarifoster is ahead of schedule. Will be ready for training camp.
— malki kawa (@malkikawa) April 18, 2017
After selecting Foster Thursday night, Lynch was asked why he thought the star Alabama linebacker slid so far down the draft board.
“I don’t know what other people’s issues were with him,” Lynch said. “I think some things, you know there’s the issue at the combine. We talked with Reuben about that and he apologized for it, admitted that it was a mistake. I think a lot of young people make mistakes. You know, I would anticipate people maybe questioning some of his character, but I would tell you his character’s what drew us to him. When you start talking football with this young man he lights up a room, and he’s a good kid. I believe in the kid and I think it’s going to be, he’s going to be a great player for this organization for a long time.”
Lynch promises the 49ers did their homework on Foster. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport said Foster’s visit down to Santa Clara lasted nearly seven hours.
“We were exhaustive in our getting to know the kid,” Lynch said. “We met with him at the combine. We had him out here for a 30 visit. Kyle and I both spent a lot of time on the phone with him, facetiming. And then, I think when we really started to zero in and get really serious, we sent [vice president of football affairs] Keena Turner and [team chaplain] pastor Earl [Smith] down to Tuscaloosa to meet with Reuben for two days and they had a tremendous visit. We kept in contact with him.
“Young man’s going to be disappointed. He felt like he was one of the better players. But, I can also tell you that this was a place where Reuben wanted to be. He indicated that numerous times. Whether he told everybody else that, I don’t know. But, it felt genuine and I think that’s something we love about Reuben is that he’s a really genuine young man. He’s got a smile that lights up a room and the way he plays football’s special.”