Phil Dawson had a simple conversation with San Francisco 49ers general manager Trent Baalke a day after the 2015 regular season concluded.
Dawson, 41, had just knocked in a game-winning, 23-yard field goal to beat the then-St. Louis Rams on Jan. 3. But the kicker-GM conversation didn’t touch on the veteran’s heroics. Instead, Dawson was in Baalke’s office to touch base on his pending free agency.
“He flat-out asked me, ‘Do you want to be back?’” Dawson recalled of the conversation earlier this month on the 49ers Radio podcast.
“I said, ‘Yeah.’”
Once free agency was open for business, the two connected again and Dawson, the team’s Bill Wash award winner as the Most Valuable Player, informed Baalke that nothing had changed on his desire to return to San Francisco.