The San Francisco 49ers have been looking for a way to trade quarterback Jimmy Garappolo all off-season. As the 2022 NFL season approaches, however, they’ve decided to rework his contract while he remains on the roster as a backup.
According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, the Niners and Garoppolo have agreed to a revised contract that will make him the highest-paid backup quarterback in the NFL as they begin the Trey Lance era.
As part of the restructuring, Jimmy G’s base salary this season drops to $6.5 million while he will have potential incentives that could get him to $10 million if he ends up playing and/or starting again.
The #49ers lowered Jimmy Garoppolo's base salary to $6.5M fully guaranteed while giving him a chance to make nearly $10M more in incentives if he's starting. A solid solution. https://t.co/la4T5rNpir
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) August 29, 2022
ESPN’s Adam Schefter also notes that the contract includes no-trade and no-tag clauses, which means Garoppolo is likely to remain in San Francisco this season before leaving in 2023 unless a trade opportunity that both parties agreed to happens first.
Comp update: Jimmy Garoppolo’s one-year restructured deal is worth $6.5 million in base, fully guaranteed, per sources. He has another total of $500k in roster bonuses. He also has playtime bonuses that can boost it another nearly $9M. So, one year, $7M, up to just shy of $16M.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 29, 2022
Garoppolo originally signed a five-year, $137.5 million deal in 2018 with San Francisco. He’s led them to two NFC Championship Games and a Super Bowl in the years since. However, rumors of work ethic issues and inconsistent play have spelled doom for his future with the Niners.
The big question is just how much of Lance’s development, or lack thereof spurred on this contract restructuring. There have been rumors that Lance isn’t coming along as well as San Francisco would have wanted.
We’ll find out for sure when the NFL season starts soon. And now we know, after months and wondering and speculating, that Garoppolo will be there to back Lance up, or replace him if needed.
