San Francisco 49ers Quarterback Secured: Garoppolo Signs Massive Deal

The San Francisco 49ers don’t have to worry about the quarterback position, with Jimmy Garoppolo signing a massive five-year deal.

With plenty of cap space and a lot of draft picks to work with this offseason, the San Francisco 49ers can check one position off their wish-list for the long-term future. On Thursday, the team agreed to a massive contract with Jimmy Garoppolo, giving him $137.5 million over the next five years to be their franchise quarterback, according to NBC.

Garoppolo becomes the highest paid player in the NFL, by average annual salary. His $27.5 million yearly just surpasses the $27 million that Matt Stafford earns from the contract he signed before last season. He will make $74 million in guaranteed money from this deal.

The 49ers acquired Garoppolo ahead of the trade deadline during the 2017 season, sending a second-round pick to the New England Patriots. He played six games for the 49ers, including starting the last five contests of the season. In three seasons before 2017, he played 17 games for New England, starting twice.

Of course, there are risks to signing a quarterback with this level of experience to a long-term, big-money contract, and the most common one named is Matt Flynn. The 2008 seventh-round pick became something of a sensation in four seasons with the Green Bay Packers, and signed a three-year deal worth more than $20 million annually with the Seattle Seahawks in 2012, despite owning only two career starts and throwing 132 passes.

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Flynn was with Seattle for only one season, appearing in three games and throwing nine passes. He split the next two seasons between three different franchises, and wouldn’t take another snap in the NFL after the 2014 season.

Even though Garoppolo started just five games last year, those games were extremely exciting for the team, the front office, and the fans. After watching Brian Hoyer and rookie C.J. Beathard fail time and time again to move the offense with any sort of momentum, Garoppolo came in and immediately changed the fortunes of the offense.

Garoppolo completed 67.4 percent of his attempts (120-178) for 1,560 yards, throwing seven touchdowns to five interceptions. He surpassed 300 yards in two of his five starts, including a huge, 381-yard game against the Tennessee Titans in week 15. In that game, he led the 49ers down the field in the final minute to overcome a 23-22 deficit, completing three passes to get the 49ers in range for Robbie Gould to kick a game-winning field goal as time expired.

Games like that are what makes this deal so exciting. His poise in pressure situations, his ability to fit passes in tight windows, his innovation as a passer (the sidearm throws), Garoppolo has given everyone a reason to be excited for his future, and the team’s future with him steering the ship.

The numbers speak for themselves for the 49ers’ offense. In the first 11 games of the season, San Francisco averaged 17 points and 321 total yards from scrimmage per game. After installing Garoppolo as the starter, those averages shot up to 29 points and 409.6 yards per game over the final five weeks. Most importantly, they were undefeated with Garaoppolo under center after going 1-10 with other starters.

The opportunity to go from a top-10 draft pick in 2017 to a playoff team in 2018 is there. The Los Angeles Rams won the division for the first time in over a decade with new head coach Sean McVay leading the way for quarterback Jared Goff and running back Todd Gurley. The Seattle Seahawks failed to win 10 games for the first time since 2011. The Arizona Cardinals were 8-8, and seem to be headed downhill. The division gives them an opportunity to jump up and turn things around, like the Rams did last season.

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General manager John Lynch still has work to do, though. He named signing Garoppolo long-term as one of the main priorities this offseason, and with that out of the way, they can focus on building up the defensive secondary, or adding a big-play wide receiver that Garoppolo can throw to, or fortifying the offensive line in front of their new, big-money passer. No matter where they go from here, this is an excellent start to getting the franchise back to their expected level of success.