Earlier today, the 49ers took care of Colin Kaepernick‘s contract weeks earlier than anyone thought they would. The price tag was also a shock to some. The mobile quarterback can earn up to $21MM per season in the deal thanks to incentives that are said to be rather obtainable. The deal includes $61MM in guaranteed money, making it the largest guarantee in NFL history. Here’s a look at some of the reaction to No. 7’s new deal..
- John Clayton of ESPN.com (Twitter link) is unsure if Kaepernick’s lucrative new deal with the 49ers will help or hurt talks for lesser quarterbacks like Alex Smith and Andy Dalton. He adds that the six-year, $126MM deal probably means a $22MM per year deal for Seahawks QB Russell Wilson (link).
- Jason Fitzgerald of Over The Cap was surprised to hear that Kaepernick got a deal worth a maximum of $21MM per year. Based on the contract history of limited sample size players, like Kaepernick, Fitzgerald believed that the 49ers quarterback was in line for an $18MM per year deal. With the lucrative new deal, the 49ers now find themselves with a tight cap situation, even though the deal reportedly gives the team flexibility to work on a new deal for wide receiver Michael Crabtree and others.
- “I’m going to work to try to make sure I’m worth every penny of this, try to win as many games as possible. That’s something I feel I can do,” said Kaepernick of his new deal, writes Cam Inman of the Bay Area News Group.
- Kaepernick also told reporters that he won’t let the big bucks affect his motivation, writes Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee.
- It’d be easy for Dalton to pay attention to Kaepernick’s deal, but he’d be better off ignoring it, writes ESPN.com’s Coley Harvey. He’s undoubtedly dreaming of dollar signs, but the Bengals dont’ have any compelling reasons to award him in similar fashion. Dalton wants to get paid like an elite quarterback, meaning $19MM or more per season, but there are legitimate questions as to whether he’d even be worth ~$15MM annually.