49ers Aldon Smith Taking Leave of Absence for Treatment

23 Sep, 2013

San Francisco linebacker Aldon Smith will miss Thursday night’s game at St. Louis and perhaps sit out longer, 49ers CEO Jed York said Sunday.

Smith will seek treatment following his arrest Friday for suspicion of driving under the influence and marijuana possession. After Sunday’s loss to the Colts, Smith apologized and acknowledged he will get help, but didn’t field questions.

“First off, I wanted to apologize to the team, the organization, my family and everybody I let down,” he said. “I also wanted to let it be known that this is a problem and it’s something that I will get fixed, and that I’ll do everything in my power to make sure that this never happens again.

“I also wanted to let everybody know that once again I’m sorry.”

Smith started for San Francisco and had five tackles in a 27-7 loss, two days after he was arrested and jailed early Friday morning following an accident in which his truck hit a tree. York defended the organization’s decision to play Smith.

“Our opinion is if you’re sitting someone down and paying them to sit down when they’re going to seek treatment in the future, we didn’t feel like that was an appropriate punishment,” he said. “We’re not trying to circumvent what the NFL will do. This is about making sure that Aldon has the opportunity to work on something, to get better, and he knows that he has our support and hopefully he has everybody’s support in something that is going to be very difficult.”

York expects Smith to get help, but the 49ers won’t interfere.

“I think Aldon is going to take steps on his own,” York said. “We’re not worried about that.”

Smith is a key pass rusher and sacks leader for the 49ers, and coach Jim Harbaugh had said leading up to Sunday that the NFL would decide how to punish the third-year pro, who turns 24 Wednesday. He had a franchise-record 19 1/2 sacks last season, second in the NFL.

When asked about Smith getting help, Harbaugh said “there’s a process there we’ll apprise you of at the appropriate time.”

“It will be indefinite,” York said. “There’s no timetable.

AP

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