The 49ers reached a deal with quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo this week, making him the NFL’s highest paid player. He is set to earn an NFL-record $27.5 million per season on his new five-year deal including an eye-popping $74.1 million in guarantees and a $35 million signing bonus.
San Francisco entered Thursday with north of $118 million to work with under the cap, according to Spotrac. With the deal averaging $27.5 million, most figured that would take a nice chunk of said cap space.
However, the 49ers decided to structure the contract in a way that Garoppolo will be — by far and away — NFL’s highest paid player next season in terms of cap hit. He’s set to count a whopping $37 million against the cap in 2018.
That logic though was only because the team had so much cap space available next season. Garoppalo’s 2019 cap hit will reportedly be $20 million. After that, Garoppolo will not have a cap hit exceeding $27 million in any of the final three seasons of his contract.
The 49ers also have an out built in after the 2020 season they could move on with just a $4.2 million dead cap hit.
Overall, this was a job well done by GM Jonathan Lynch. First he dealt a second-round pick to land Garappolo at the 2017 NFL trade deadline and then he got the deal done here in a manner that makes a ton of sense. Plus by getting it done early, it allows the 49ers to more aggressively work in free agency this season.
After that, Garoppolo will not have a cap hit exceeding $27 million in any of the final three seasons of his contract. With projected cap increases each season, that’s going to be an even larger bargain.
Given his small sample size of stats — including having played in 23 total games with just seven starts — we took the liberty of breaking down how much he’ll get paid for each of those numbers.*
Jimmy Garoppolo’s contract broken down per stat
| Stat | Number | Amount |
| Starts | 7 | $19.6 million |
| Touchdowns | 12 | $11.46 million |
| Interceptions | 5 | $27.5 million |
| Sacks | 16 | $8.6 million |
| Rush Yards | 21 | $6.5 million |
| Receptions | 2 | $68.6 million |
| Games played | 23 | $5.9 million |
*figures are determined by dividing 137.5 million by the total stat
