Why Jimmy Garaoppolo's Big Contract Is Not Good For The 49ers.

San Francisco 49ers have found their golden quarterback!

  In this league, it is hard to find a true franchise quarterback. A quarterback who will be good enough to stay on the team's roster for at least a decade. A quarterback who will take his team to playoffs on a consistent basis. Miami Dolphins are still looking for a quarterback to take reigns from Dan Marino, who retired twenty years ago. Buffalo Bills are still struggling to find a quarterback to replace Jim Kelly, the quarterback who never won a Super Bowl, but was at least good enough to get to four straight Super Bowls. Jackosniville Jaguars and Minnesota Vikings both have great rosters, and both teams made it all the way to the Conference Championship round this past season, but both of them haven't had a consistent quarterback for a while now. Also, the Washington Redskins always come up short with finding a superstar quarterback. They initially thought they had found their quarterback with Kirk Cousins, but they just couldn't give them a long-term contract, as they weren't comfortable with what he was bringing to the table. Redskins saw that Cousins has talent, can put up good stats, but he is not taking them to the playoffs on a consistent basis. So yes, it is very hard to find a very good quarterback.

  Hats off to the San Francisco 49ers for getting their franchise quarterback, via trade with the New England Patriots for only a second-round pick. Just for one second round pick, they were able to get a young promising player for the most important position on a football team's roster. I believe the 49ers made the steal of the century. Okay, maybe not the steal of the century, but look what they are getting with Jimmy G. He is coming to San Francisco from an environment, where winners were produced. Jimmy G sat behind the great Tom Brady for three and a half years. He will be bringing a decent amount of useful knowledge, which he learned in a highly creative offensive system, orchestrated by Bill Belichick and Josh McDaniel's. Also, he has a lot of physical talent of his own too. So it's obvious that the 49ers stole Jimmy G from his former team. Patriots could have gotten a lot more than a second-round pick for Jimmy G. Heck, the Minnesota Vikings had to give up a first-round pick to get an injury-prone quarterback, Sam Bradford! Basically, Patriots weren't willing to spend time to shop Garaoppolo for what he was worth. San Francisco fans should be excited for next five to ten seasons. With all that said, the 49ers made a big mistake by giving Jimmy G the biggest contract in NFL history, which he hasn't earned yet!

Jimmy G has potential to be the best in the league, but you can't give him this deal yet.

 

San Francisco 49ers and Jimmy Garaoppolo agreed to a five year contract worth 137.5 million dollars, last Thursday. This contract makes Jimmy G the highest paid player in NFL history. Previous player to have the biggest NFL contract ever, was Matthew Stafford of the Detroit Lions. Both Jimmy G and Stafford are talented quarterbacks in the league, but neither deserve the contracts which they received from their teams. Stafford has numbers, has arm strength, and has great passion to play football. What doesn't he have? He has no playoff success. He has been to postseason three times in his career, and lost all three of those games. Jimmy G on the other hand, has been to the playoffs and has success, but all as a backup quarterback! It was at the start of 2016 season, Jimmy G got to make his first start of his career, the time when Tom Brady was serving his four game suspension. He got to start two games that year and he played extremely well. He ended up winning both of those games. Then this past season, after he got traded to the San Francisco 49ers, he got to start five games, and won all of them. Jimmy G definitely elevated the players he had in his arsenal, and had the 49ers looking like a legit team. But here's the thing, Jimmy G led the 49ers to a five game winning streak after they had been eliminated from the playoffs. When Jimmy G became the starter, nothing was at steak for the 49ers. In those five games, the coaching staff didn't tell their players to go out there and win games. Last five games of the season or the whole 2017 season in general, the coaches and general manger (John Lynch) of the 49ers were evaluating all the players they had on their roster. Jimmy G did everything to impress his teammates, coaches, and the general manager, by leading his team to game winning drives, and making all the throws and good decisions as a quarterback of the team. He did well to prove the 49ers, that he deserves a two or three year deal, with a decent salary. Instead, the 49ers gave him the most expensive five-year contract in the history of the NFL. Apparently, Jimmy G convinced the management and coaches that he will surely take the 49ers to multiple Super Bowls, in the next ten to fifteen seasons. How is a seven game sample enough for a quarterback to prove, that he is the next Montana, the next Elway, the next Manning, or the next Brady?

  Another thing we need to keep in mind is that we are living in a salary-cap era of the NFL. John Lynch wanted to secure his quarterback for the long haul, but he knows that his team is still in a rebuilding process. There are fifty-two other players beside the quarterback a general manager has to pay. Recently, the San Francisco 49ers have drafted some good young players on defense with Jaquiski Tartt, DeForest Buckner, Solomon Thomas, and Reuben Foster, who all have potential to be leaders and pro-bowl type players, in the next few seasons. However, they are still young and they are not going to win playoff games by themselves. They will need some good help from veteran players, which the 49ers could sign with this and next years' free agency. To bring in free agents, John Lynch will have to overpay some, so then he can snag them from other teams. Yes, the weather is great in Santa Clara, but it is great in Oakland and LA too. Those cities have two teams which are closer to winning Super Bowls, than the Niners are. One of those teams, the LA Rams, play in 49ers division. If John Lynch is aiming to win, or get to the Super Bowl next season or two years from now, then he will need to sign three to four solid players in free agency, and have an excellent draft just like he did last year. Even if he gets all those players, it is going to be tough for him and his team to get to the Super Bowl. First of all, the LA Rams are the best team in the division and they are just getting started. Secondly, we just can't eliminate the Seattle Seahawks just yet! They still have Russell Wilson, Doug Baldwin, Jimmy Graham, a very good defense (even though it hasn't been as good as it was two to three years ago), and they still have Pete Carroll. Seahawks are going to be presence next year for sure. Finally, nothing is guaranteed in the NFL. An injury could take place any moment in this sport. So competing for a Super Bowl next year or two, shouldn't be John Lynch's agenda. It will be fun to watch the San Francisco 49ers in the next two to three years. They are going to be competitive, might get to the playoffs, but that's about it!

  If John Lynch's goal is to compete for a Super Bowl title in three to five years (which is the right mindset), it isn't going to be that easy, due to the contract he gave Jimmy Garaoppolo. Let's say the young defensive players, Taratt, Buckner, Thomas, Foster, and others ball out next year or so, how is John Lynch going to pay all of them for their second contracts, once their rookie contracts are up? Lynch knows he won't be able to pay everybody and keep them together. Jimmy G will have to play like a great one, and show that he doesn't need a lot of help, so then John Lynch could afford to lose, two or three of his solid, young defensive players in the future. Seattle Seahawks came pretty close from becoming another dynasty, besides the New England Patriots between 2013-16, but they failed to continue their dominance. Why couldn't they get to have a dynasty? Because everyone on the Seahawks' roster, started asking for big contracts. Some of the key Seahawks' players, like Russell Wilson, Richard Sherman, and Earl Thomas, received massive contracts. While others didn't. The Seahawks had the best defense in the league in 2013 and 2014, but then, they started losing players like Malcolm Smith, Brandon Mebane, Byron Maxwell, and Bruce Irvin. This is what happens when, a general manager pays three to five players almost half of the salary from the cap room. It is hard for any general manager to keep the team's core players, and be in the contention of Super Bowl every year. Jimmy G is certainly thrilled about the money he received from his contract (as he showed on his Instagram post), but he should know that all the pressure in the world is going to be on him. He saw in New England, how Bill Belichick handles players' contracts, in order to keep his team as a strong Super Bowl contender every season. Jimmy G with his new contract, should know that he isn't going to get a team like, Caron Wentz has in Philadelphia, or a team like Russell Wilson did in Seattle, before he got his own big contract. To take his team to the playoffs on a consistent basis, Jimmy G will have to play like Tom Brady or Aaron Rodgers.

What does Jimmy G's big contract mean for Kirk Cousins and Aaron Rodgers?

 
  Kirk Cousins should be excited! He wasn't drafted by the New England Patriots. He didn't get to sit behind Tom Brady and learned from him, for three and a half years. He is certainly not coming from a winning environment. However, he has started three full seasons as a quarterback for the Washington Redskins, and has led them to the playoffs once in 2015. Cousins has passed for over 4000 yards, in the three seasons in which he played as a starter. His overall record isn't so appealing, as it is 26-30-1, but he is more experienced as a starter than Jimmy Garaoppolo is with his seven starts. We also need to keep in mind that Cousins, never had that good of a team. Other than 2015, he never had all of his weapons fully healthy and available to him in games. Jordan Reed is Cousins' best option in the passing game, but he has missed bunch of games since the start of the 2016 season. Then last year, Cousins lost two of this top three targets in free agency, with Pierre Garcon and Desean Jackson. Yet, he still passed for over 4000 passing yards, completed over 64 percent of his passes, and tossed twenty-seven touchdowns. How many quarterbacks in the league could do that? Only the top ten quarterbacks in the league are capable of doing that. If we ask football experts, about where Cousins is ranked among the top ten quarterbacks, they would mostly put him at nine or ten. In my opinion, a top nine or a top ten quarterback, doesn't deserve to be the highest paid player in NFL history. Since Jimmy G got the big contract by starting only seven games, Cousins deserve more than that.

  Kirk Cousins might or might not get the biggest deal in the history of the NFL, but Aaron Rodgers will surely get it next year. As of right now, Aaron Rodgers is easily way better than both Jimmy G and Cousins combined. With Tom Brady retiring in a year or two, Rodgers will become the face of the NFL, while also being the best player in the game. That means, he deserves to be the highest paid in the league, and no one should have a problem with that. He has a lot more regular-season and post-season experience, than both Jimmy G and Cousins have. Rodgers is a Super Bowl champion, has two league MVPs, and one Super Bowl MVP. He has several 4000 passing yard seasons. His touchdown to interception ratio is the best of all time, as last season, he became the first quarterback ever to throw his 300th touchdown pass, before throwing his 75th interception. I'm sure, the contract that Jimmy G signed with the San Francisco 49ers, brought a big smile on Rodgers' face.

  I just mentioned that no one should have a problem with Aaron Rodgers demanding for the biggest contract ever, but there is one organization that could have a problem with it. The Green Bay Packers! They haven't signed a big time free agent, or given anyone a big contract, since they won a Super Bowl with Rodgers in 2010. Since then, the only player to get a decent contract from the Packers, is Davonte Adams, the player who they drafted in 2014. If Rodgers is attempting to win another Super Bowl, he will have to do it in the upcoming 2018 season. If he plans onto winning multiple Super Bowls, then he will have to settle for the same or lesser deal than what Garoppolo received from the San Francisco 49ers. In addition to that, Rodgers must make it clear to his management, that he is not here in Green Bay to get to the playoffs, and then go out in the first or second round. Pressure is all on the Packers to give a  contract extension to Rodgers, and bring some more talent to help him out. Packers can thank John Lynch of the 49ers, for giving such a massive deal to Jimmy G. The contract agreement between Jimmy G and the San Francisco 49ers, has made the lives of all other general managers, difficult!