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The San Francisco 49ers have officially gone all in on quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo after signing him to a record-breaking five-year, $137.5 million contract. Needless to say, the deal has caught the attention of several quarterbacks throughout the league.
The obvious one, of course, is Washington Redskins quarterback Kirk Cousins. However, Garoppolo's deal is said to have an impact on Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers and Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan's future deals as well, according to NFL Network's Mike Garafolo:
“That's the difference between being on the open market and not on the open market and we saw that at other positions, too. I mean look at [defensive lineman] Olivier Vernon getting $17 million per year from the Giants a couple of years ago when guys that were [franchise] tagged were getting somewhere in the area of $15 million.”
Garafolo added that his sources around the NFL expect Cousins' contract to have an average annual value of around $30 million.
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It goes without saying that quarterback is arguably the most difficult position in all of sports. As a result, today's gunslingers are finally beginning to get paid as such.
This became extremely evident when the Niners made Garoppolo the richest player in league history despite the small sample size he has produced thus far in his four-year career. Furthermore, no one seemed to bat an eye that general manager John Lynch pulled the trigger considering how rare it is to find a true franchise quarterback.
That said, the likes of true star quarterbacks like Rodgers, Ryan, and Cousins have good reason to expect a big payday for their stellar performances in recent years, and as the cap continues to expand, so will their salaries.
