San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch is thankful that the whole ordeal with Nick Bosa's contract is behind him. The star pass rusher ended his six-week holdout, reporting to the team on Thursday and officially signing a five-year, $170 million contract extension on Friday morning, keeping him a Niner through the 2028 season.
We know Bosa will have an impact on the football field. But what about the impact on the salary cap? An average salary of $34 million per season for 2024 and beyond is nothing to take lightly.
"Well, we're focused on Pittsburgh right now," Lynch said Friday morning on KNBR's "Murph and Mac" show. "That's where all our focus needs to be. But, yes, in my job, in [EVP of football operations] Paraag Marathe, [VP of football administration] Brian Hampton, we always have to be worried about the overall health of our cap, of our cash, all those things.
"And that's not just a static thing where it's this year, this game. You have to take more of a holistic view, and so that's over time. So, you know, some of these conversions we've been doing are set up not just for this year, but for the next couple of years, and trying to put ourselves in the best situation."
This week, the 49ers restructured the contracts of tight end George Kittle and Tackle Trent Williams, creating about $23.2 million in salary cap space.
"We've got a lot of highly-paid players, a lot of tops at their position in the league, which means we've got a lot of talented players," Lynch continued. "And one thing I'd be remiss to say, how thankful I am to the York family to continue to support us.
"A lot of people, when they're fortunate enough to have this many good players, they have to cut ties with a lot of them. And we've been able to continue to try to make this thing work. And as a result, we got a really good team with an awesome opportunity."
Bosa is one of the faces of the franchise. The general manager expressed his excitement regarding the defender's return to the 49ers.
"It was a journey for sure," Lynch said. "And first of all, just elated to have Nick a part of the Niners. I think he said, 'Niner for life.' And I love the sound of that. He's a tremendous young man, tremendous teammate, and what a player. Really, a special player. And I think the answer to that is a special player like that is going to deserve a special contract. And at times, they get complicated.
"This was our first holdout, so I wasn't used to it. We've prided ourselves on getting guys in camp. We had a feeling that it might go this way but still tried to do everything to avert that. It didn't happen, but I think the silver lining here, and I don't like making exceptions for players, but I will tell everybody that you're talking about one of the most uniquely conditioned athletes that I've ever been around. I've been around for a long time in the NFL, and he keeps himself in tip-top shape and even accelerated it this year, not being in camp.
"So the good news is he looks tremendous. We got him on the field yesterday. He kind of did some work to the side just to assess where he was at. We're able to get him in meetings and all. And then today, he'll have what we think will be a full practice, and then we'll put a plan together as to how we're going to use him. But I'm ecstatic that we finally got there."
You can listen to the entire conversation with Lynch below.