The 49ers parted ways with a few longtime fixtures from their roster this offseason, but one player found his way back to the team.
Fullback Kyle Juszczyk was released in March after declining to take a pay cut and it looked like he might be moving on to the Steelers after visiting Pittsburgh, but he reversed course and signed a new two-year deal with the Niners instead. Juszczyk told Vic Tafur of TheAthletic.com that the period was “the worst three days of my life,” but that he now feels “genuinely grateful” for the opportunity to explore what else was out there before realizing he wanted to stay put.
“It was a different experience,” Juszczyk said. “It was a chance to go look at a different team and I felt a lot of love from them. I got excited for a second about what possibly could be, about new beginnings and fitting into a new offense, all that type of stuff. And I genuinely enjoyed my time with Arthur Smith and Mike Tomlin so much. I have so much respect for those guys. But at the end of the day, it just wasn’t enough to trump what I had in San Francisco. I just couldn’t pull the plug. Even the day I was released, the door wasn’t shut. There was always an opportunity for me to come back. [49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan] was very open about that. We didn’t know how it was going to work out . . . though I told myself after a day or two that wasn’t going to happen. I think deep, deep down, that’s what I was hoping for, is that there would be an opportunity to come back.”
Juszczyk’s run with the 49ers has included eight straight Pro Bowl nods, a spot on the All-Pro team and two trips to the Super Bowl, so it’s been a fruitful partnership that both sides hope has some juice left in it.
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