The San Francisco 49ers’ inevitable deal with defensive end Nick Bosa could end up being a historical one when all is said and done, ESPN’s Bill Barnwell has claimed.
The San Francisco 49ers are turning themselves into a modern-day version of the Pittsburgh Steelers side of the 1970s, in that they are building their success off the back of arguably the best defense in the league, with the only thing really stopping them from being as good as those Steelers teams being their lack of Super Bowls, but that is not the defense’s problem.
In the last four seasons, they have finished inside the top five when it comes to yards allowed, and in three of those seasons they’ve also ranked inside the top ten when it comes to points allowed. And whilst there are a number of players that you can put that on, there’s no doubt that the main man behind their success is one Nick Bosa.
The #2 overall pick in 2019, Bosa has exploded onto the scene in the league, taking home Defensive Rookie of the Year in his debut season, winning Defensive Player of the Year last year and totalling 43 sacks, 156 tackles and 106 quarterback hits in his first four seasons (via Pro Football Reference).
Nick Bosa ready for the big bucks with the San Francisco 49ers
And according to Bill Barnwell, he is set to be richly rewarded for what he has done so far in a 49ers uniform. Writing in a column for ESPN in which he analysed each team’s offseason, Barnwell noted that the biggest thing the 49ers needed to do was to give Bosa a new contract, and hinted that it could be a ground-breaking deal:
Pay Bosa a ton of money. Coming off of a season in which he was Defensive Player of the Year and finished sixth in the league's MVP balloting, the 49ers really have no choice but to make their star edge rusher the highest-paid defender in NFL history. A big, round number is coming; Bosa should be the first defensive player in league history to average more than $30 million per season on a multi-year deal.
You’ll find no arguments on this end about whether Bosa deserves it, because he well and truly does. The only question to come out of this what sort of salary expectations can be made for those that are coming behind him. Because if he is ‘setting the market’ at this rate, then what will someone like Dallas Cowboys star Micah Parsons be demanding when his time to negotiate comes up?
Parsons is probably the only player whose production has matched that of Bosa, but everyone else is going to have a tough time asking for that much money from their teams.