SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — More than missing one of the game’s most menacing pass rushers, the San Francisco 49ers care that Aldon Smith can carry on with a healthy life off the field over the long haul.
With or without football.
The former Missouri star received second chance after second chance with the Niners before they finally had enough following his fifth run-in with the law. The franchise parted ways with the troubled but talented linebacker Friday after Santa Clara police accused him of drunken driving, hit and run and vandalism.
The move came only three days after general manager Trent Baalke expressed his desire to keep Smith beyond this season, which would have been a contract year.
Instead Friday, Baalke and coach Jim Tomsula met with Smith at team headquarters after he left jail to inform him he was no longer part of the team.
Smith was arrested Thursday night — on a day off from training camp for players — the fifth legal run-in since the team drafted him 7th overall in 2011.