Nick Bosa’s 49ers contract standoff ends with $122 million guaranteed

The 49ers have their big dog back in the fold. NFL Defensive Player of the Year Nick Bosa agreed to a five-year, $170 million deal on Wednesday, ending a holdout that was in its seventh week. Bosa will play on Sunday in the season opener against the Steelers, head coach Kyle Shanahan said.

The contract includes more than $122 million of guaranteed money, according to ESPN. Bosa appeared to confirm the deal on Instagram, posting a picture of himself in a Niners uniform captioned, “Shall we.”

Bosa had dramatically outperformed his rookie contract, terrorizing quarterbacks to the tune of 34 sacks over his past 33 games. He was scheduled to make $17 million on his fifth-year option this year. Though the 49ers had the option to fine him $40,000 per day he held out, which would have totaled more than $1.7 million in fines, the team waived all fines.

The two sides took the contract standoff down to the wire, with Bosa missing the first regular-season practice Wednesday and reports emerging that Bosa’s status for Week 1 was “in doubt.”

With the deal sealed, Bosa headed to California on Wednesday, presumably from his father’s training center in Florida.

“He’d have to have a beer belly and be out of shape or something,” Shanahan said of what it would take for Bosa to miss Sunday’s game. “And that’s not in Bosa’s DNA.” Asked what a realistic snap count for Bosa was, Shanahan asked the reporter how many snaps there were in the game.

The deal’s average annual value of $34 million and total guarantees of $122 million are both the most ever for a defensive player. Bosa certainly earned it. In his first season, he tallied nine sacks and won Defensive Rookie of the Year. Then he tore his ACL and missed most of 2020; the Niners went 6-10. Healthy the past two years, the Niners went to two straight NFC title games, while he racked up more than a sack per game.

Bosa’s deal reportedly includes a $50 million signing bonus, the highest ever for a defender. While fitting Bosa and other stars under the NFL’s salary cap could prove challenging in the long term, a new deal with a large bonus almost universally gives teams more cap space in the short term, as they can spread the cap hit of the guaranteed cash over several years.

This breaking news story has been updated.