The San Francisco 49ers finally provided fans with some long-awaited news, as NFL Network's Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero reported that the team had reached an extension with defensive end Nick Bosa on a five-year, $170 million deal that will keep him in the Bay Area for the foreseeable future.
With Week 1 approaching nearer and nearer, there was heightening skepticism on whether Bosa would suit up for the inaugural game of the season, but the 49ers quieted those fears, reaching terms with the defensive end, who head coach Kyle Shanahan announced isn't at the facility yet, but is on the way.
Shanahan cleared up any doubt about Bosa's Week 1 availability, sharing confidence that the defensive end would be in game shape upon his arrival, while his impact on the team is undeniable.
Now, I applaud the 49ers for getting the deal done, but... this should have come much, much sooner.
Contract negotiations are a sticky topic. The two sides almost never come to an agreement initially, because there's value to be had, based on initial offers, while bigger contracts, such as Bosa's likely have a much bigger initial gap.
However, from the jump, it was pretty clear that Bosa's deal was going to be record-breaking, especially considering how the Los Angeles Chargers' negotiations with his brother Joey Bosa went.
When looking at the numbers in Bosa's deal, I had suggested that Bosa's deal would cost the 49ers around $33-35 million annually, while the total guaranteed money would be around $120 million, and the guaranteed money at signing would exceed $85 million.
Bosa got a near-8% increase from the market that his brother Joey Bosa got in annual salary: Nick Bosa increased the average annual salary from Aaron Donald's $31.6 million to $34 million, summing out to around a 7.5% increase, while Joey Bosa's raise from Myles Garrett's $25 million to $27 million was an 8% increase.
Bosa signing his deal now proves that he wasn't looking to outlast the other players waiting for deals on the market, but rather a lack of agreement with the 49ers on meeting his terms.
Now, I don't believe the 49ers should've outright gone with whatever Bosa asks; that's not how negotiations work, but there should've been a larger effort to secure this deal earlier if these were the terms, which I and others expected for a Bosa deal.