NFL Rumors: San Francisco 49ers won’t use franchise tag on Donte Whitner
By Jack Crosby
On a day where we learned that the San Francisco 49ers would be getting one of their key pieces on offense back for the 2014 season in wide receiver Anquan Boldin, we’re now learning that they might be letting one of the key pieces on the defensive side walk as, according to Pro Football Talk, the team will not use the franchise tag on free agent safety, Donte Whitner.
49ers won't be using franchise tag on S Donte Whitner, per league source. Not a huge surprise.
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) March 3, 2014
Whitner has been with the 49ers for the past three seasons, and his contract is set to expire this March 11.
The problem isn’t that Whitner can’t produce on the field, we know that he can without question, but the fact of the matter is there’s going to be stars in the future like Colin Kaepernick that are going to be expensive to keep.
It would be foolish to believe that Whitner would be willing to accept a less-than-favorable deal, so the team will now take their chances by letting him test the free agent market.