49ers Jimmy Garoppolo contract a steal in wake of Ryan Tannehill deal with Titans

The San Francisco 49ers’ contract with Jimmy Garoppolo looks to be even more of a bargain after the Tennessee Titans re-signed Ryan Tannehill to a lucrative new deal ahead of NFL free agency.

Remember when the San Francisco 49ers inked quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo to that lucrative five-year, $137.5 million deal entering 2018?

At the time, Garoppolo became the NFL’s highest-paid quarterback. The Niners spending so much money on a signal-caller who only started seven games up to that point seemed like pure folly. Yet it pointed to a certain truth all NFL teams have to realize at this point: locking down a quarterback perceived to be a franchise’s cornerstone is expensive.

“Perceived” is the key note here. And the Tennessee Titans are now the latest team to make that point, re-signing veteran quarterback Ryan Tannehill to his own lucrative four-year deal worth up to $118 million, as reported by ESPN’s Jeff Darlington on Sunday:

Tannehill’s annual average salary is a full $2 million more than Garoppolo’s $27.5 million. Garoppolo’s contract also included $48.7 million fully guaranteed, whereas Tannehill’s full guarantee was $62 million, according to the report.

Quite the stark contrast.

Tannehill will also turn 32 years old before the start of the 2020 regular season. Garoppolo, three years younger, finished the 49ers’ regular season with nearly 4,000 passing yards, a 69.1 completion percentage and a 248.6 pass yards-per-game average. While Tannehill’s numbers were limited by him only starting 10 games in 2019, due to the Titans sticking with quarterback Marcus Mariota early in the year, the former Miami Dolphins’ first-round pick from the 2012 NFL Draft managed just 228.5 yards per game.

Although Tannehill’s 70.3 completion percentage marked a career high, while his 117.5 passer rating led the league.

Yet what should be considered here is the 49ers engineered Garoppolo’s deal understanding fully well the expected value for quarterbacks was only going to increase in coming years. It didn’t take long for Garoppolo’s deal to be overshadowed by other contracts, such as the Los Angeles Rams’ Jared Goff or Minnesota Vikings’ Kirk Cousins.

Now, tack on Tannehill’s new contract as the latest in line to make Garoppolo’s deal look like a relative bargain.

It also shows quarterbacks don’t need to be classified into an “elite” category in order to cash in on a hefty payday. While Tannehill has been moderately decent over his oft-injured NFL career, the surface analysis might suggest he’s not worth $118 million over four years. Certainly not compared to the big-number contracts dished out to top quarterbacks like the Seattle Seahawks’ Russell Wilson or Green Bay Packers’ Aaron Rodgers.

Yet that’s the going rate for quarterbacks now, as long as those teams envision them being cornerstone pieces.

Either way, the 49ers’ contract with Garoppolo looks even more like a bargain than it did previously, and Tannehill’s new contract merely serves to reinforce that notion.