The San Francisco 49ers have until March 6th to sign Jimmy Garoppolo to a long-term extension before being forced to place the franchise tag on the talented young quarterback.
It’s in this that there’s no real chance Garoppolo leaves the 49ers after going 5-0 in his five starts for the team following an October trade from New England.
But now, it appears that both sides are confident a long-term deal will be struck before March.
“I believe there is confidence on both sides that a deal will be reached,” NBC Sports Bay Area 49ers beat writer Matt Maiocco reported Saturday. “With only seven starts in four seasons, I would not expect him to become the highest-paid quarterback in the league. But he will never had to worry about money for the remainder of his life.”
Negotiations will be a bit tricky here. Sure San Francisco feels that Garoppolo is a franchise quarterback. But he has only seven career starts under his belt. There’s no other real baseline when it comes to a contract extension. Garoppolo’s small sample size won’t enable his reps to compare a potential new deal to what Derek Carr and Matthew Stafford signed last offseason.
This one scribe did project what he views to be a fair contract for both sides, coming in at $100 million over five seasons. Based on how well Garoppolo played this past season, he’s definitely in line for a huge pay day. That much is for sure.