After spending his entire NFL playing career up to this point with the San Francisco 49ers, the team approached Arik Armstead during the early stages of the NFL offseason to see if he would take a considerable pay cut to stay with the team for the 2024 campaign.
Unfortunately, the veteran defensive end and the reigning NFC champions were unable to see eye-to-eye on a restructured deal, which led the 30-year-old to sign with another team in NFL free agency.
Ultimately, Armstead found a new home in the NFL with the Jacksonville Jaguars inking him to a lucrative three-year deal, but despite securing a decent contract, Armstead wasn’t happy with the way things ended with the 49ers.
Despite not getting to leave the team on his terms, Armstead clearly enjoyed his time with the storied NFL franchise and recently talked about playing defense for the 49ers, via Tidal League.
That 49er's Defense was just different…
(Via: Third and Long) pic.twitter.com/Qm2wnB74Nd
— Tidal League (@TidalLeague) March 31, 2024
Although Armstead clearly would’ve liked to have stayed with the 49ers moving forward, especially with the team being a perennial title contender, he has a chance to make some noise with the Jaguars while sharing what he learned during his time in San Francisco with his new teammates in Jacksonville.
Even though the Jaguars are coming off a disappointing season in which they missed the NFL playoffs entirely, Armstead and company can bounce back with a vengeance in 2024 and try to get back on track as a potential playoff team in the AFC while being in the running to win the AFC South division title.