There was a lot of worry inside the San Francisco 49ers that the team would face the Pittsburgh Steelers this weekend without their best defensive player, pass rusher Nick Bosa. That's not how the team wanted to start its 2023 campaign, yet it seemed the two sides, the 49ers and agent Brian Ayrault, seemed far apart in the contract negotiation process.
Then, much to the relief of the Niners, things suddenly changed.
ESPN's Adam Schefter was the first to report the news. The NFL insider shared how things went down for Bosa and the 49ers.
"Well, here's what happened," Schefter said Thursday on the "The Pat McAfee Show." "Essentially, in the morning (on Wednesday), both sides thought that they were a ways away, far apart from getting a deal done. The exact language that was used to me was 'huge gaps, huge gaps' between the two sides."
At that point, the 49ers were very concerned and believed they would be entering Week 1 without Bosa.
"And so Kyle Shanahan was getting ready to meet the media, and they had their vice president of media relations, Corry Rush, in there, debriefing him, saying some of the things that he should be answering about the Nick Bosa situation. 'Nothing different to tell you guys. Very sorry. Wish we had him.'"
The 49ers coach confirmed that on Wednesday, speaking to reporters shortly after the news dropped.
"I actually was preparing to talk to you guys about how I have nothing to tell you guys, and I was three minutes late because I just got told of the news," Shanahan admitted.
Schefter had just tweeted the breaking story, the news for which Niners fans had been waiting so long. It was a record-breaking five-year, $170 million contract extension for the reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year.
"There it is. Nick Bosa, new deal, gets the deal done," Schefter continued. "And so the Niners find out. And I think what happened here is, ultimately, the two sides can negotiate all they want. They could feel they're far apart all they want. But I think in the end, Nick Bosa has to say, 'I want to be there for my team. It's important for me to be there with my guys. We've taken this far enough. Let's go and get this done.'
"And I think he gives a directive in the end, 'Hey, I'm taking this deal. It's a record deal. I'm the richest defensive player in NFL history, richest non-quarterback deal in NFL history.'"
So it would seem that Bosa eventually had enough of the long-drawn-out process. The defensive end wanted to end the stalemate and rejoin his teammates.
"'I'll take it from here,'" Schefter added. "That's exactly what Nick Bosa said."