They negotiate on their terms
July is a slow month for NFL news as teams prepare for camp toward the end of the month. Of course, no month is slow for the 49ers. In July, they’ll need to decide whether to trade or release Jimmy Garoppolo.
San Francisco is also expected to give wide receiver Deebo Samuel a lucrative deal. During today’s episode of The Shanaplan, we discussed whether the Niners waited too long to pay Deebo.
George Kittle was on a podcast last week discussing Samuel in-depth and said this:
“I haven’t talked to John Lynch, Kyle Shanahan or Deebo [Samuel] about it. I have not. I don’t know anything, but in hindsight, I would have paid Deebo three quarters of the way through the season, try to do a contract in season. probably would’ve been cheaper. Christian Kirk really set the market off,
That thing exploded..they [Jaguars] said screw the whole league, we’re going to pay him $90 million. But, what’s going to happen, is that Deebo has another year on his contract left, regardless, right. Assuming he’s not going to sit out, that’s a lot of money, so either he’s going to play this year as a Niner with one year left on his deal or he’s going to get a contract extension. At this point, you can’t even trade him, what are you going to trade him for? First-round pick in next year’s draft? That doesn’t help us this year. Come on, you can’t trade for future picks, not right now.
So that window is kind of closed and something crazy could happen and I could eat my words in two weeks, but the 49ers
Have done every major contract, mine, Fred Warner’s, the week before the season started. So, my guess is, within a month, we’ll hear news of it, but I have no idea.”
There’s no doubt the market exploded after Kirk received his money.
What Kittle doesn’t know is that non-first-rounders must complete three years of their contract before signing a new deal. Also, the 49ers negotiate on their terms, not the agents. Kittle pointed out his and Warner’s contract happening the week before camp. That seems like the norm with the Niners.
On the one hand, I doubt they projected nine receivers would receive more than $20 million annually this offseason. On the other, you run the risk of having to either overpay the player or pay more than the market suggests.
We go more in-depth about Deebo in the episode below and all of the surrounding factors:
Other topics include:
PFF rating the 49ers roster as the 13th best (1:44)
Adam Schefter is still doing Don Yee’s dirty work (8:29)
What are the likeliest trade destinations for Jimmy Garoppolo? (11:37)
What will Deebo’s deal ultimately look like? (18:00)
Do the 49ers cut or trade Jimmy? (20:44)
If Garoppolo starts somewhere next year, does that team make the playoffs? (22:50)