Arik Armstead is ready to begin a new chapter of his career.

The 6-foot-7 defensive end spent the past nine years of his career with the San Francisco 49ers, establishing himself as one of the team’s best players as they advanced to two Super Bowls. The former first-round draft pick had served as a starter since the 2016 season and once led the Niners with 10 sacks during the 2019 season.

However, Armstead was released by the Niners after he felt “extremely disrespected” by a low-ball offer that saw San Francisco offer him a $6 million deal — incentives would lift it up to $8 million — to bring him back. Armstead instead signed a three-year, $43.5 million deal with the Jaguars to rejoin his former general manager in San Francisco, Trent Baalke.

“It is what it is,” Armstead says of the low-ball contract offer during an exclusive one-on-one interview. “For nine years I was there and it was truly special with the ups and downs. I wouldn’t have traded that for anything. I became a man there. I grew so much as not only a football player, but as a person. I have a lot of love and respect for a lot of people over there and that’s never going to change. All good things come to an end.”

While Armstead is disappointed how things ended in San Francisco, he leaves the door open on a potential return before the end of his career.

“Who knows, you know? Like I said, I have a lot more years left to play,” says Armstead. “I’m excited to be a Jaguar. Who knows how the rest of my career is going to go.”

Baalke was the Niners’ general manager when they selected Armstead in the first round of the 2015 NFL Draft. Although Armstead turned down the Niners’ contract offer, he quickly found a much more financially favorable deal in Jacksonville with his former general manager. Baalke now serves as the general manager of the Jaguars.

“Once I was officially released and able to talk to teams and my agent was able to talk to teams, Trent (Baalke) reached out and we were able to figure out something that was great for me and the Jags,” says Armstead.

During Armstead’s run in San Francisco, he started 97 of 116 career games while racking up 33.5 sacks. Armstead had been with the Niners for such a long period of time — he was with the franchise when Colin Kaepernick was the starting quarterback. He helped mold a team that was 5-11 during his rookie season into being an annual contender, with the Niners advancing to at least the conference championship game in four of the past five seasons.

Armstead explains that he’s looking to do the same thing in Jacksonville for a team that made it to the playoffs and won a postseason game a couple years ago with young quarterback Trevor Lawrence and Super Bowl-winning coach Doug Pederson.

“It’s a great opportunity to help get this organization to the next level,” says Armstead. “Which we’re trying to become and that’s a level of dominance, consistent dominance and playoff runs and championship aspirations.”

Although Armstead hasn’t had any in-depth conversations with Pederson yet, he’s heard “extremely positive” things about the third-year Jaguars coach and says that he’s “excited” to play for him.

During the Niners’ postseason run, Armstead played through a torn meniscus. Despite the injury, Armstead still racked up a sack in the Super Bowl while starting all three playoff games.

Armstead — who is speaking on behalf of his partnership with CorePower Yoga — explains how practicing yoga on a regular basis is helping him in his recovery from the injury.

“100%,” says Armstead on if yoga plays a big role in his recovery routine. “With all my injuries the past few years, getting hurt and not being able to do what you typically do. Yoga has always been huge for me — especially the hot yoga — which is the opportunity to break a sweat and not put an impact on my injury.

Armstead further details how much of an impact a serious injury can have on a player’s mental health.

“People don’t realize the toll physically that injuries have on you in terms of being in pain,” says Armstead. “I think pain can be depressing at times — especially prolonged pain. Not being able to — as a high-performing athlete — not being able to move, move your body how you normally are. Not being able to be around your teammates as much or feel like you’re helping in that capacity. A lot weighs on you mentally and yoga was definitely a way for me to work on my body physically during my injury. It was an opportunity for me to reset my mind and work on my mindful practices as well.”

The 10th-year defensive end reveals that he’s been going to CorePower Yoga since 2016 and it has been a regular part of his routine — he does yoga once or twice a week — ever since then. He began his partnership with CorePower Yoga a month prior and says he’ll be doing a lot of social media with the brand along with participating in upcoming events.

Armstead explains why this yoga partnership is important to him, highlighting the importance of mental health.

“Being in a male-dominated spot, mental health can be taboo,” says Armstead. “To destigmatize that and have the opportunity to talk about the importance of not only your strength physically, but your emotional resilience and your mental health and how those go hand in hand. To be able to join this campaign and share that with the rest of the world is going to be amazing.”

The campaign — which is taking place during May Mental Health Awareness Month — is offering free access to a curated collection of yoga and meditation classes on their on demand platform.

While Armstead will obviously focus heavily on yoga in the offseason as he looks to return 100% from his torn meniscus injury, he stresses that his objective is to finish the job and win a Super Bowl after coming up short twice. He also mentions he has another “five-plus” years left in him.

“It’s 100% about hosting up that trophy and I’m excited about the opportunity we have here,” says Armstead. “We have the talent and the ability and the journey starts now to get there.”