The holdout is over.
At long last, the 49ers have reached an agreement with the reigning Defensive Player of the Year.
After a holdout that stretched through training camp and threatened to leak into the season, a deal is done. According to Adam Schefter, the five-year extension will make Bosa the most highly-paid defensive player in NFL history.
General manager John Lynch said from the start that he was confident that Bosa and the 49ers would come to an agreement, and that belief has borne true, eventually.
Bosa was long expected to surpass the annual value number set by Pittsburgh’s T.J. Watt at more than $28 million per year, but the recent deal given to Aaron Donald ($31.67 million per year) — the first defensive player on a deal with a contract worth more than $30 million per year — was something of a complicator. Bosa has surpassed that figure at $34 million per year, more than Jared Goff’s $33.5 million.
The news arrived just minutes after Kyle Shanahan’s 12:40 p.m. scheduled press conference, to which he is understandably tardy.
The more important numbers, of course, are the guarantees. How much is fully guaranteed and protected for injury matters a bit more than the advertised price tag, but the $122.5 million guaranteed is a monumental figure.
Now, it appears likely Bosa will be available for the home opener. How much he is involved is yet to be determined, but with at least two days to practice, you’d imagine he faces the Steelers.
