Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo has been locked up by the San Francisco 49ers at the cost of $137.5 million over the next five years. Now, the 49ers can shift their focus towards free agency.
While teams aren't allowed to speak with impending free agents until the start of the new league year on March 14 (they can speak with agents on March 12), that doesn't mean NFL players don't talk to each other.
With the quarterback position addressed in San Francisco, and the team still in possession of a healthy salary cap surplus, the 49ers are going to be an attractive destination for free agents. Garoppolo joined KNBR on Friday and was asked how comfortable he is with being a free agent recruiter. Have players already started reaching out to him?
"Yeah. That's kind of how this thing goes," Garoppolo answered on the "Gary & Larry" show. "Guys reaching out to guys more than coaches and executives really. Just in the last 48 hours, to be honest, I've had texts, I've had messages from guys, and they're excited about it. It's a place that -- why wouldn't you want to be here? It's gorgeous outside year-round. We're a young, upcoming team, and we've got a phenomenal coaching staff.
"It's an exciting time out here in the Bay Area. Hopefully, a lot of guys want to experience that too."
You can listen to the entire interview with Garoppolo below.
One of Garoppolo's teammates, wide receiver Pierre Garçon, has already kicked off the recruiting effort. Earlier this week, he made a pitch via Twitter to get New England Patriots cornerback Malcolm Butler to consider joining the 49ers.
Back in December, former 49ers beat writer and current podcaster, Kevin Jones, shared that he received a text from a wide receiver scheduled to hit free agency. That player asked him about San Francisco and praised Garoppolo.
One of the reasons the 49ers worked hard to get Garoppolo's deal done quickly was because of free agency, according to Michael Silver of NFL Network. The team wanted to send a message to prospective free agents that they have their quarterback in place for the foreseeable future.
"One of the reasons they wanted to get this deal done quickly (according to 49ers general manager John Lynch) was to send a message to prospective free agents," Silver said. "[Lynch] joked about the weather being 75 degrees. What's not to love? But seeing Jimmy Garoppolo up there on the podium as the newly-minted franchise quarterback, [Lynch] said, 'We think we can attract some good players. We're going to be prudent, but we're going to be aggressive.'"
As Lynch reported during Friday's press conference, the 49ers still have the third-most salary cap space among NFL teams, even after the Garoppolo deal.
What does Jimmy Garoppolo's big deal mean to the 49ers? Everything. I broke it down with @patrickclaybon on @nflnetwork pic.twitter.com/4W8N9W8s2N
— Michael Silver (@MikeSilver) February 9, 2018
