Why the 49ers might make Nick Bosa the highest-paid NFL defender ever
It's been known for a while that Nick Bosa is set to become the highest-paid edge rusher in NFL history. But ESPN's Adam Schefter believes his contract extension with the 49ers will break a more significant record when it is finally agreed. Bosa, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, is holding out as his […]
It's been known for a while that Nick Bosa is set to become the highest-paid edge rusher in NFL history.
But ESPN's Adam Schefter believes his contract extension with the 49ers will break a more significant record when it is finally agreed.
Bosa, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, is holding out as his representatives and the Niners negotiate his extension.
Though those talks have dragged on to a point where Bosa is now missing practice time, there has been no sign of panic from the Niners.
As Schefter explained in an appearance on 'The Pat McAfee Show', the 49ers are calm because they know the deal will get done, as do those in Bosa's camp.
When it does, Schefter expects the contract to make Bosa the highest-paid defensive player in NFL history. That would mean his average annual salary surpassing Aaron Donald's $31.6 million.
Despite Bosa's hugely impressive 2022, there may be some who question whether he is worthy of surpassing Donald's average annual value.
After all, Bosa has only two seasons of production that truly matches up to the numbers Donald has put up over the course of his Hall of Fame career with the Rams.
Prior to his injury-affected 2022, Donald had racked up double-digit sacks in each of his last five campaigns. He has never failed to record double-digit tackles for loss or quarterback hits in a single season.
But Bosa has displayed a similar proclivity for filling up the stat sheet, following up a 15.5-sack season in 2021 by putting up 18.5 last season. He has racked up double-digit tackles for loss in each of the three seasons he has completed and led the NFL with 21 in 2021.
Perhaps most notably, he has 80 quarterback hits over the last two seasons, with the 48 he compiled in 2022 more than Donald has ever managed in a single season.
Yet this is not a matter of simply comparing the numbers. It is a question of what the 49ers are paying for compared to the Rams when Los Angeles renegotiated Donald's 2018 extension last year to add $40 million onto the final three years of the deal.
Donald was 31 when the Rams made him the highest-paid defender. Though Donald has earned the right to be considered ageless with his remarkable consistency for creating destruction, he is at that point of his career where normal players would past their prime. Donald is not a normal player, but the case can be made the Rams were rewarding him more for past performance than paying for what he might deliver in the coming years.
With Bosa, the 49ers are set to pay a player who is still only 25. Though he is firmly established as one of the NFL's pre-eminent defensive players, Bosa is still a couple of seasons away from what would traditionally be considered his prime years.
Scary as it may be to think about, Bosa has arguably still not reached his ceiling. Especially playing on a defensive line that now also features Javon Hargrave, there is great potential for the numbers to get substantially more impressive.
Bosa's contract is not about what he has delivered so far, it's about what he can still become, a Hall of Fame level player who could end his career with production akin to the all-time greats. With the salary cap set to continue to increase, a contract surpassing Donald's $31.6 million average may soon seem like a bargain if Bosa continues on his current path.
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