Barber: Reuben Foster hangs over 49ers like a cloud

SANTA CLARA

It’s the season of hope in the NFL, and nowhere does optimism shine more brightly right now than here at 49ers headquarters. A six-game winning streak to close out the 2017 season and a long-term contract inked by game-changing quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo have created the impression that this organization is on the verge of something exciting. Maybe even something great.

But a cloud hangs over the 49ers’ offseason. It’s a cloud in the shape of Reuben Foster.

Foster, a ray of sunshine as a rookie linebacker last year, now hovers over and lurks behind everything this team is trying to accomplish. His amorphous presence/absence blurs the 49ers’ needs in the upcoming draft, weighs down their offseason training program and muddies their 2018 salary cap projections. And if Monday is any indication, Foster will dominate the team’s public appearances for a while.

Monday was the day that general manager John Lynch engaged the media to talk about the draft. He did it in the same room as last year, equipped with the same microphones and video screens. But Lynch had an inkling that the conversation might be very different this time, because he hadn’t spoken to reporters since we had all learned the disturbing details of Foster’s arrest on domestic violence charges.

After walking reporters through the 49ers’ yearly scouting cycle and the makeup of the team’s personnel department, Lynch acknowledged the elephant in the room. He noted the gravity of Foster’s case and argued that “patience is the right approach right now.”

“But I do want to be abundantly clear that if the charges are proven true, if Reuben did indeed hit this young lady, he won’t be part of the organization going forward,” Lynch added.

He wrapped up his preamble with this statement: “I’m advised that I’m not at liberty to go into depth on these. We can talk about the draft today. We have a limited amount of time in here.”

Lynch’s message needed no translation. He had broached the difficult subject of Reuben Foster. There wasn’t much more he could say about it. So he’d really, really appreciate it if we limit the discussion to whether the 49ers might trade out of the No. 9 spot, or the depth of the cornerback position in this draft.

Wasn’t gonna happen. Lynch spent the next 15-plus minutes answering question after question about Reuben Foster - about his history of minor transgressions before this recent, major accusation; about how long the team will continue to wait for a resolution; about the string of legal charges racked up by 49ers players in recent years and the level of proof the team might require to sever ties with Foster.

All in all, Lynch spent more time on Reuben Foster than he did on the entirety of the 49ers’ draft needs and projections. Get used to it, because this issue might not be going away for a while.

A lot of people argued that the 49ers should cut Foster when the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s office made its charges public on April 12. That’s when we learned the Foster is being accused of dragging his girlfriend by the hair, punching her in the head up to 10 times and rupturing her eardrum.

Disgusting allegations, but I was OK with the Niners keeping Foster on the roster. Considering the preferential treatment most professional athletes get from law enforcement, and the fact that domestic abuse is widely underreported, there’s a strong likelihood that Foster is guilty as charged. He may well be going to jail. But no one, ever, should lose his or her job because of accusations. There has to be some measure of due process, and we’re not close to that in the case of Reuben Foster.

So I think the 49ers were justified in retaining Foster while barring him from offseason team activities, and I understand why they are willing to wait for his case to play out in the legal system. But as Monday demonstrated so clearly, they can’t let the process unspool forever, because that storm cloud threatens to obscure all of the exciting things happening here.

Starting with the draft.

Lynch acknowledged that the 49ers must proceed under the assumption that Foster will not be with them in 2018. That leaves the team with Brock Coyle and young Donavin Newsom at middle linebacker, or maybe Malcolm Smith (who is returning from a major injury) if they were to slide him over from the Will linebacker position.

The 49ers clearly think there’s a chance Foster is innocent - or at least won’t be convicted - or they wouldn’t be standing behind him. Yet they must strongly consider someone like Virginia Tech inside ’backer Tremaine Edmunds, a size-speed freak and sideline-to-sideline run chaser, with that No. 9 overall pick.

The charges against Foster will have a wider impact on the 49ers’ draft decisions, too. Every NFL team is willing to absorb some level of risk when courting draft prospects who come with off-field baggage. Each team draws the red line differently. On Monday, someone asked Lynch if the 49ers are redrawing their line based on this unpleasant experience.

“Hey, I don’t think we went into last year’s draft saying, ‘We want guys who are gonna be trouble,’ ” Lynch replied. “But of course you learn things through experiences.”

I’m guessing Lynch was underplaying this one. There’s no way that the uproar launched by the Santa Clara County DA won’t profoundly affect the 49ers’ personnel decisions, at least in the short term. Another troubled young athlete would be embarrassing not just to Lynch, but to the York family. So you can bet that Foster’s case have convinced Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan to red-flag draft prospects who otherwise might have remained on their board.

Lynch wasn’t the only one who had to respond to Reuben Foster questions Monday. Veteran players Malcolm Smith and Joe Staley were asked for their takes, too. They’re professionals. They can handle it. But the longer Foster remains half-in, half-out of the team plans, the more this will wear on teammates.

I asked Lynch whether the 49ers are independently investigating Foster, or whether they’ll wait for judge and jury to decide his fate. “We really aren’t supposed to,” the GM said. “I mean, that’s kind of the way this thing works.”

Is that right? NFL teams all have investigative units. They do deep research on draft prospects, sometimes following them around and interviewing relatives and classmates. After the video of Ray Rice assaulting his fiancée went viral in September of 2014, Baltimore Ravens team owner Steve Biscotti divulged in a letter to fans that the Ravens had delved into the incident; he apologized for dropping the investigation too quickly.

I’m not sure how deeply the 49ers will pry. But it’s imperative that they get a sense of Foster’s culpability as quickly as possible. If he roughed up his girlfriend, the 49ers need to know. And they need to know quickly, because they’re one dark cloud away from starting the 2018 season fresh - albeit light at the inside linebacker position.

You can reach columnist Phil Barber at 707-521-5263 or phil.barber@pressdemocrat.com. Follow him on Twitter: ?@Skinny_Post.