49ers news: Patrick Mahomes deal makes Jimmy Garoppolo look poor

Perhaps the 49ers aren’t spending much on Jimmy Garoppolo in light of the Chiefs inking Patrick Mahomes to a 10-year extension.

A number of things can be equally true, especially with regards to the San Francisco 49ers, Kansas City Chiefs, quarterbacks Patrick Mahomes and Jimmy Garoppolo.

One is a Super Bowl-winning quarterback with both game- and league-MVP accolades under his belt to go along with single-season records. The other? Well, Jimmy G’s fourth-quarter meltdown in the Super Bowl against the Chiefs seems to have cast a shadow over all the other positive things he did in his first full year as a starter for the Niners.

But those key differences mean a lot when it comes to dishing out contracts. And on Monday, ESPN’s Adam Schefter broke the news Mahomes was going to be cashing in on the most lucrative contract in NFL history: a whopping 10-year extension to make his current deal worth at least $427.6 million:

"Patrick Mahomes had two years and $27.6 million left on his existing deal — $2.8M this year, $24.8M in 2021. His 10-year extension is worth over $400M, though it’s still uncertain how much over. So the lowest his 12 year-deal could be worth is $427.6 million. But will be more."

That equates to an average annual salary of at least $35.63 million over the lifespan of the contract.

And remember when fans and analysts alike were tripping over themselves in reaction to Garoppolo’s five-year, $127.5 million deal signed early in 2018?

Garoppolo’s then-record-setting contract was only such for a short while before other deals, such as those dished out to the Atlanta Falcons’ Matt Ryan, Green Bay Packers’ Aaron Rodgers and Minnesota Vikings’ Kirk Cousins all exceeded Garoppolo’s annual average of $27.5 million.

Now, Jimmy G’s contract is sitting at 12th behind Mahomes and the 11 other names on this particular list of well-paid signal-callers.

49ers paid Jimmy Garoppolo based on where market was going

Some of the notions about these deals is to understand the possibility and anticipate the likelihood of contracts signed in the present being massive bargains in the not-so-distant future.

At the time, Garoppolo’s contract was massive for a player who started only a handful of games beforehand, and only five with the Niners by that point.

In hindsight, looking at Garoppolo’s deal in Mahomes’ contractual context is certainly eye-popping:

It’ll be interesting to see whether or not Mahomes’ new contract will have various outs worked into the terminology once those are announced. But for San Francisco, it can get out from Garoppolo’s contract with relative ease in 2021, having just $2.8 million in dead money against a would-be $24.1 million in cap savings.

That, of course, would hinge on whether or not Garoppolo flames out for the Niners this upcoming season, yet the 49ers understood players don’t always reach their level of pay in the coming seasons.

It’s hard to imagine the Chiefs thinking this with Mahomes, though, yet there are always a variety of X-factors and yet-to-be-determined aspects that’ll ultimately pan out between now and the end of Mahomes’ deal.

Either way, this shows a key difference between players who excel in those crucial Super Bowl-winning moments and those who come up short. From a financial aspect, we’re only beginning to see which team, the 49ers or Chiefs, will get it right with their fiscal abilities.