So, there’s been some misconception going around about Jimmy Garoppolo being on the roster when it comes to extending Nick Bosa & Deebo Samuel, well I’m here to explain why the 49ers can extend both without unloading Jimmy.
Right now, the 49ers are $4,084,665 under their 2022 adjusted cap, by my numbers that is, and if the 49ers decided to cut Jimmy, the 49ers would lose $7.5 million, due to his injury guarantee clause, which only kicks in if Garoppolo is cut while injured, which he is right now.
Now, the 49ers don’t need to cut ties with Jimmy to extend Bosa & Samuel, heck, they never needed to unload Garoppolo to make deals work, and let’s explain wise.
The 49ers have given out extensions to George Kittle, & Fred Warner the past 2 offseason, where Kittle got a $18 million signing bonus, plus a $2.25 million option bonus in 2021, while Warner received a $12.32 million signing bonus, and a $12.68 million option bonus in 2022, both of those option bonuses were protected, meaning they were guaranteed to receive them, as they would have either been prorated, as they were, or added onto their base salaries, same thing happened with Arik Armstead as well.
Now, when it comes to Nick Bosa, he has a $4,305,225 training camp roster bonus, which is due early in training camp, so the 49ers can easily turn that into a signing bonus, add on $1,694,775 from their $4.084 million in cap room to give him a $30 million signing bonus, while also giving him, say a $15 million option bonus in 2023, which would prorate at $3 million a year over 5-years.
As for Deebo Samuel, he has a $3.936 million base salary, that can be lowered down to the league minimum, $965,000, a difference of $2.971 million, which would be a $14.855 million signing bonus, but that’s not enough in my opinion, as A.J. Brown got over $20 million in a signing bonus, so the 49ers could give Deebo a $25 million signing bonus, using just $2.029 million of the $4.084 million, while also giving him between a $10 million to $15 million option bonus in 2023, which again would prorate over 5-years.
If the 49ers did this, they would be down to just $360,890 in cap room, but they would have locked up both Nick Bosa, & Deebo Samuel to new long term deals, with no one else needing to be extended, nor would they sign any other free agents.
Of course, the 49ers could try & get both to do deals like Fred Warner, where their cap numbers don’t go up at all, preserving the $4.084 million, but I think that’s unlikely, unless they agree to do option bonuses in both 2023 & 2024, which would be protected, meaning, again, that they’d be guaranteed to see them.
So, the most likely outcome is that the 49ers use that $4.084 million to extend Bosa & Deebo, while standing pat at center with Jake Brendel, if not, they could redo Trent Williams’ deal, saving $4.904 million, which could be used to sign a J.C. Tretter.
I expect Bosa to get a deal in the $32 million a year range, while Deebo in the $26 million a year range, both are well worth it, as they’re building blocks that the 49ers need to keep to workm towards the goal of a super bowl ring.
So, as you can see it, Jimmy Garoppolo still being on the roster isn’t preventing them from extended either Nick Bosa or Deebo Samuel, so anyone who does say that doesn’t know how the salary cap works.
And as always, I thank you for reading, leave a comment, or follow me on Twitter @49erscap.
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