NINERS MAKE JIMMY G A HAPPY (FOR NOW) SECOND-STRING QB!
By Melody Miller
The 49ers restructured Jimmy Garoppolo’s contract, which per Ian Rapoport, makes him the NFL’s highest-paid backup.
Garoppolo will be a free agent at the end of the season and he gets no-trade and no-tag claused added to his deal.
Sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter that Garoppolo and the Niners agreed to a restructured one-year contract that is worth $6.5 million in fully guaranteed base salary.
The new-look deal contains another total of $500,000 in roster bonuses and playtime bonuses that could boost it by another nearly $9 million for up to a total of $16 million if all bonuses are reached.
The move casts doubt on the team’s confidence in Trey Lance.
Garoppolo’s impressive run in 2021 kept Lance on the sidelines for most of his rookie season. He only took the field as a starter when Garoppolo was unavailable. Lance is one of the best athletes at his position, but reports from camp have indicated that he still has improvement to be made as a thrower.
On the other hand, the new contract could make it easier to trade Garoppolo, assuming he waives the no-trade clause for the right team. Any team trading for him on the old contract would have taken on his $25 million base salary. At a greatly reduced cost, he is now a far more appealing option for other franchises.
