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2015 NFL Free Agency: Mike Iupati As Good As Gone?

Going by 49ers fans, it sounds like the standout guard will hit the market.

Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports

It's easy enough to get trapped inside the Rams fan bubble. Everything looks possible from the inside.

Bradford's gonna get healthy and take us to the playoffs. Cignetti as the OC is just what Tavon Austin needs to break out. Year two under Gregg Williams is gonna make this a top 10 defense. And I love the plans every Ram fan has on how to fix things because it's just that easy! All we need is two new offensive lineman, a QB, and some depth. It's just easy to go out and get those things in the next few months even though that doesn't explain why we haven't done it to this point.

But it's cool. Optimism can bleed foolhardiness, and that's ok. It's still comforting though when some of that foolhardiness gets validated by people outside the bubble.

So take some comfort in 49ers fans essentially waving goodbye to thrice Pro Bowl guard Mike Iupati.

Fooch put his odds of returning at just 5%, and as I write this, only 16% of Niners fans think he'll return per the poll at the bottom of that piece.

Big Mike's turning 28 this year, so he's in prime position to take advantage of his career peak by hitting the market and seeing some big offers.

As for the Rams, one would think they'd at least be notionally interested. Davin Joseph was, depending on your verbiage, horrible last season. The Rams don't have any real depth at guard worth getting excited about. And roughly 11 months ago, we re-signed Rodger Saffold to a five-year $30m+ deal. You would think Iupati would exceed that. Comfortably.

I'm not saying to fling open the doors on the Iupati to the Rams train. I'm just saying that any concern that he'd re-sign with the Niners seems at least unlikely to those inside their bubble. So let's just pump the brakes on the hype just yet...

Aw screw it, go crazy.

IUPATI COMIN TO THE RAMS YALL WE SIGNIN AND DRAFTIN ERRBODY SUPER BOWL SUPER BOWL SUPER BOWL