SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) 鈥� Nick Bosa's lengthy contract holdout ended four days before the start of the season for the San Francisco 49ers when he agreed to a contract extension that will make him the NFL's richest defensive player ever.
Coach Kyle Shanahan said Wednesday that the two sides agreed to the contract and that Bosa is on his way to the team facility. Now Shanahan is glad he can stop thinking about what it would be like for the Niners to open their season without their best defensive player.
鈥淵ou try not to think about it much because it鈥檚 not really in my control and let the process play itself out,鈥� Shanahan said. 鈥淎s it went through the weekend, I just kind of got it in my mind that we weren鈥檛 playing with him. If I had gone back and forth, I would have been miserable. I just decided we weren鈥檛. ... It鈥檚 a hell of a bonus to get him here. We鈥檙e obviously really excited about it.鈥�
Shanahan said Bosa would have to show up with a 鈥渂eer belly鈥� and 鈥渂e out of shape鈥� not to play the season opener at Pittsburgh on Sunday but added that's 鈥渘ot in Bosa's DNA.鈥�
How much he is able to play after spending all of training camp working out on his own remains to be seen.
鈥淲e鈥檒l see when he gets here,鈥� Shanahan said. 鈥淚 know Nick will come in shape. I know he鈥檒l be good. ... We鈥檒l be smart with it and that will be based on these next two practices.鈥�
But getting the deal done in time for Bosa to play this week provides a big boost for a team that comes into the season with championship aspirations and doesn't need to contemplate the worst-case scenario with Bosa.
The news came shortly before the Niners took the field for practice Wednesday, with many of his teammates finding out when linebacker Fred Warner ran through the locker room screaming about the news as the cloud of the holdout had been lifted.
鈥淚鈥檇 be lying to say it wasn鈥檛 (a cloud) because he鈥檚 such a huge contributor to what we do as a defense and how we play,鈥� All-Pro left tackle Trent Williams said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not like anybody else is going down. The Defensive Player of the Year. You miss players like that. I know it鈥檚 a 鈥漬ext man up league" but a lot of that goes out the window when you鈥檙e talking about a player like Nick."
The 49ers have had a strong history of rewarding their own stars, giving big extensions the past three summers to tight end George Kittle, Warner and receiver Deebo Samuel. But getting a deal done with Bosa proved to be more complicated.
ESPN first reported the extension and said it was worth $170 million over five seasons with $122.5 million guaranteed. The average annual payout of $34 million tops the previous mark of $31.7 million for Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald and the guarantees top the $102 million Bosa's older brother, Joey, got from the Chargers in 2020.
鈥淚 thought it would come to fruition sometime last week, and it didn鈥檛,鈥� Shanahan said. 鈥淚t made me nervous, made me kind of move on with it. But we all knew Nick would get rewarded like he did.鈥�
Bosa earned the lucrative new deal with stellar play since being drafted second overall in 2019. He was the AP Defensive Rookie of the Year and was voted the top defensive player in the NFL last season when he led the league with 18 1/2 sacks.
Bosa has 34 sacks the past two seasons after having nine as a rookie in 2019. He had no sacks in two games in 2020 when he went down with a season-ending knee injury.
In Bosa's three healthy seasons, San Francisco ranks third in points allowed, second in yards per play allowed, fourth in sacks and tied for sixth in takeaways.
鈥淚鈥檓 sure everybody knows how he makes everybody鈥檚 life easier, not just me, being one of the most dominant defensive players in the league, in the run and pass game," Warner said. 鈥淗e鈥檚 the most complete player on the edge. That clears a lot of things up for me.鈥�
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