Mark Roman Decides To Finish Contract With 49ers

Albert Breer of SportingNews.com reports that 49ers safety Mark Roman has decided to play out the final year of his contract, after receiving permission earlier in the year to seek a trade. In other words, no one else was willing to pay him anything close to what he wants. But while Breer writes that Roman reported to the team on Monday, Nancy Gay of the San Francisco Chronicle says via Twitter that Roman is the only player absent from the Organized Team Activities. One way to harmonize these two reports is that the Niners had hoped he’d find a trade partner, and that they’ve now opted to try to trade or cut him in lieu of risking that he’ll suffer a season-ending injury, which would require them to pay his $900,000 salary in 2009. Of course, that would conflict with recent comments from coach Mike Singletary regarding the team’s interest in keeping Roman. “There was never a time we said, ‘We don’t want Mark, he doesn’t matter to us,’” Singletary said. “We want him and we’re very interested in keeping him. And that’s not something that’s a secret to him.” Then again, that statement might have been aimed at getting something for him in trade. Roman has spent three seasons with the 49ers, appearing in every game and starting all 32 over the past two years.