Packers aren't sweating Nick Bosa's massive extension
The season hasn't even started yet, but that obviously won't stop the NFL news cycle from taking over when it's required. And that's exactly what happened Wednesday when ESPN's Adam Schefter broke the news that the San Francisco 49ers and Nick Bosa agreed to an historical five-year, $170 million contract that makes him the highest-paid […]
The season hasn't even started yet, but that obviously won't stop the NFL news cycle from taking over when it's required.
And that's exactly what happened Wednesday when ESPN's Adam Schefter broke the news that the San Francisco 49ers and Nick Bosa agreed to an historical five-year, $170 million contract that makes him the highest-paid defender in NFL history.
Now, many are wondering how the deal affects the upcoming negotiations between the Green Bay Packers and their own star pass rusher in Rashan Gary.
Overall, the extension will affect talks, but not to the point where a deal won't get done. Gary is a great player, but he's not on Bosa's level. Plus, he's less than a year removed from tearing his ACL, whereas Bosa is nearly three years removed from his ACL injury, and, he's only missed one game since he returned at the start of the 2021 season.
Gary still has to go out and prove he can recapture the dominant form he displayed before the Week 9 tragedy against the Detroit Lions. Bosa has racked up 34.0 sacks over the last two seasons, was named 2022's Defensive Player of the Year. The aforementioned sack total leads all defenders since 2021 and it includes an NFL-high 18.5 sacks, last year.
In other words: Bosa has more than proven both his worth and that he's fully recovered from his ACL injury.
Gary obviously doesn't have two seasons to prove himself, as he's in the last year of his rookie deal. But, he does have four previous years of work and accomplishments that the coaching staff is well aware of. It's safe to say that the Packers will extend Gary as long as his arrow continues to point up.
"Certainly, we all know how valuable Rashan Gary is," Packers head coach Matt LaFleur told reporters Wednesday. "He is a game-wrecker. I mean, you can feel, just, the level of intensity raised when he's out on the field. And I think we've all witnessed that."
It's highly unlikely Gary commands anything close to what Bosa just received. He simply doesn't have the resume and he doesn't even have the resume of a guy like Kansas City Chiefs All-Pro DL, Chris Jones, who is seeking around $30 million per year when it comes to his desired extension.
There's still plenty of time for the Packers to figure things out and while each new deal has its own impact, Bosa's deal won't really affect Gary's deal, too much.
Featured image via Dan Powers/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin
