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NFL: Jimmy Garoppolo cashes in, and Kirk Cousins will be next

By Jacob Camenker

LOS ANGELES, CA - DECEMBER 31: Jimmy Garoppolo #10 of the San Francisco 49ers looks to pass during the first half of a game against the Los Angeles Rams at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on December 31, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - DECEMBER 31: Jimmy Garoppolo #10 of the San Francisco 49ers looks to pass during the first half of a game against the Los Angeles Rams at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on December 31, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) /
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Jimmy Garoppolo just signed the biggest contract in NFL history. He inked a five-year deal to stay with the San Francisco 49ers, but his $27.5 million per year may pale in comparison to what Kirk Cousins gets.

The next major domino on the 2018 NFL quarterback carousel has fallen. With Alex Smith now a member of the Washington Redskins, there were two huge potential free agents on the market. They were Kirk Cousins and Jimmy Garoppolo. The latter player wasn’t expected to be available, as the 49ers were almost certain to franchise him if they didn’t agree on an extension. But on Thursday, they agreed to a deal.

The contract, per NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo, is a massive one. In fact, it’s the biggest in terms of average annual value in NFL history. The deal will be for five years and it will pay Garoppolo $137.5 million, which calculates out to $27.5 million per year. That average annual value is massive, and it will set the market for contract deals moving forward.

Garoppolo is an interesting case study. In seven career starts, he is undefeated. He has two Super Bowl rings, but those were earned as a backup. In five games with the 49ers, Garoppolo showed incredible pocket presence, accuracy, and elite field vision. He could be the next great quarterback, and it makes sense that Kyle Shanahan ended up agreeing to keep him long term. At the same time, his lack of a lengthy track record makes this move a calculated risk. So, it will be interesting to see if it pans out.

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The reason that I’m bringing this up is that Cousins, who will still be associated with the Redskins until the free agent sweepstakes for him begins, could be impacted by this deal. Cousins is going to be one of the best quarterbacks ever to hit the free agent market, and given the bullish investments being made in quarterbacks across the league, he will get a massive deal.

Garoppolo’s contract sets a new negotiating point for Cousins. While Garoppolo has better intangibles, is younger, and has proven to be a winner, Cousins has a very accurate arm and has proven to be capable of running a winning team. Yes, he has a record that is barely above .500, but he still is an above average quarterback.

On the open market, Cousins is going to create a bidding war between the quarterback needy teams in the league. Somebody will be willing to pay him more than the $27.5 million annually, and he could cross the $30 million per year threshold. Of course, we all know that the only thing that matters with NFL contracts is guaranteed money, so seeing the guaranteed numbers for the Garoppolo deal will be big for Cousins.

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This is just another important piece of the puzzle as the Cousins situation is figured out. There has been talk about tagging him and trading him, but that $34.5 million deal over one year would probably be too much for another team to handle while giving up a lot of resources. So, Cousins is still likely to walk, and he will probably get a shot at getting a Jimmy G type deal on the open market.

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