49ers restructure Jimmy Garoppolo: Grading the deal

The 49ers restructured Jimmy Garoppolo’s contract to keep the quarterback in San Francisco while saving cap space. Is the deal a win?

A long offseason of speculation around a potential Jimmy Garoppolo trade was all for naught.

On Monday, the 49ers and their backup quarterback reached a deal to restructure his contract for 2022.

He won’t be leaving San Francisco after all.

Grading the 49ers restructured contract for Jimmy Garoppolo

In order to grade the deal, first we need to know what it entails.

According to Albert Breer, Garoppolo has a base salary of $6.5 million which is fully guaranteed. He can earn $500,000 per game in roster bonuses and can tack on another $8.45 million in play-time incentives.

Garoppolo is taking a pay cut but his prospects around the league weren’t great to begin with. He was always going to have to take a pay cut. Being able to stay with a team he knows, with the very real possibility of stepping back into a starting role, must be worth it to him.

On the 49ers’ side of things, this was a big win. They likely dropped Garoppolo’s cap number from $26.95 million to just $8.5 million, per Tom Pelissero.

Having $20 million in cap space thanks to a $17-million savings puts them in a significantly better financial position and they got there while still holding onto a veteran backup who could get them out of trouble if things with Trey Lance go wrong.

A trade would have accomplished more cap savings but would have left San Francisco vulnerable without insurance behind Lance. It certainly wouldn’t have yielded enough draft capital to be worth it.

In the end, this is a deal that benefits both parties. Garoppolo is getting the shorter end of the stick, but his comfort with what he knows is a factor that can’t be ignored.

The 49ers get an A for this one.