The 49ers released ex-Bears safety Tony Parrish last week. He had started 121 consecutive games before breaking his left leg last year at Soldier Field. The injury caused about a 5-inch space of spider web fractures that needed two industrial-size screws to stabilize, "something out of Home Depot," Parrish said.
He told the San Francisco Chronicle: "My reaction is disappointment that my time in San Francisco had to come to an end like this—it's not exactly the way I pictured it. But it rarely happens that people get to leave a city exactly the way they want."
"Tony is a model professional, and he influenced a lot of younger players with his work ethic," 49ers coach Mike Nolan said in a statement.