49ers show faith in Aldon Smith

The San Francisco 49ers know Aldon Smith still has plenty of work to do to repair his tarnished image and stay on track away from the football field. They want to be an integral part of his self-improvement project, exercising their 2015 fifth-year contract option for the star linebacker on Friday. The team made the decision despite Smith’s long list of legal trouble that included an arrest at Los Angeles International Airport just more than two weeks ago. San Francisco faced a deadline today to decide on Smith’s immediate future, and general manager Trent Baalke suggested last week the team would keep the fearsome pass rusher around for the near future at least – for 2015, “and ’16, and ’17 and ’18.”

Associated Press