Typically when an NFL head coach signs with a team, his contract includes an offset clause. Basically, that means that if the team decides to part ways with the head coach prior to the end of the contract and that head coach signs with another team (any position), then the salary due to the head coach from the former team is offset by the salary from the new team.
For example, if the former team owed a coach $4 million but the coach signs with another team at a salary of $750,000, then the former team would only owe the coach $3.25 million for the remaining years on the contract – so long as the coach remains employed.
This is the setup that former head coach Jim Tomsula had with the San Francisco 49ers. Tomsula is the new defensive line coach for the Washington Redskins, meaning his salary there will be deducted from the amount that the 49ers still owe him. The same would be true if former 49ers head coach Chip Kelly were to find work in the NFL.
Apparently, this is not the case for new 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan, who signed an unprecedented six-year contract with the team. According to Michael Lombardi, who joined "The NFL Show" on The Ringer, there is no such offset in Shanahan's contract and that is pretty unheard of in the NFL. That shows an even bigger level of commitment to Shanahan by 49ers CEO Jed York for the duration of his contract.
If Shanahan were to be fired prior to the end of his six-year contract and find work elsewhere within the NFL, he would collect the full salary due by the 49ers in addition to the salary from his new team.
"There's no offset clause in your contract, which is significant in the NFL," Lombardi said as part of a larger topic. "Which means if Kyle Shanahan gets fired in year two, he gets all his money and can double dip, which is unheard of in the NFL."
Lombardi has served as an NFL executive with numerous franchises and was a scout with the 49ers from 1984 until 1987. He is a former analyst for NFL Network and former writer for NFL Media.
