The San Francisco 49ers decided to use their franchise tag on kicker Robbie Gould this offseason, but he still may end up getting a long-term extension from the team after all.

“We had a conversation with his representation at the Combine,” said 49ers general manager John Lynch, according to Chris Biderman of The Sacramento Bee. “The franchise [tag] was something we have at our disposal that yeah, we’re gonna use because he’s a very good player and we don’t want to let him go but we worked really hard to try to get a deal done. And that didn’t happen, and so I think we understand that and we move forward accordingly. That’s not dead, either.”

Should both sides fail to come to a deal, Gould will play out the year on a $4.97 million salary.

Gould is coming off of a terrific 2018 campaign in which he made an incredible 33 of his 34 field-goal attempts, with his longest kick coming in the form of a 53-yard boot. He also converted on 27 of his 29 extra points.

The 36-year-old, who played his collegiate football at Penn State, went undrafted but landed with the Chicago Bears in 2005.

By his second year in the league, Gould as already a Pro Bowler and a First-Team All-Pro after nailing 32 of his 36 field goals and making all 47 of his extra points.

While he has not made any Pro Bowls since then, Gould has been one of the league's most reliable kickers, as evidenced by his lifetime ratio of 87.7 percent on field goals.

He has spent the last two seasons in San Francisco.