Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey hey, goodbye

With the deadline for salary cap compliance looming, the 49ers finally cut their ties with high-priced, oft-injured cornerback Ahmed Plummer, the former first-round pick from Ohio State who played in only three games last season because of an ankle injury.

Already unpopular with coach Mike Nolan, Plummer’s $25 million contract signed in 2004—which included an $11 million signing bonus—also made him expendable. He was scheduled to earn $5.5 million in base salary in 2006.

The motives behind the moves were purely financial, Nolan said Thursday. Plummer in particular never was healthy enough for Nolan to evaluate him as a starter, the coach said.

 

‘...Durability is part of the kind of player you have," Nolan said about Plummer. "You just don’t evaluate the type of player on the field only. If a guy is not on the field very much, it is a huge chunk of the evaluation.’