Niners linebacker Fred Warner’s lucrative contract has a unique structure, with two deals in one

San Francisco 49ers linebacker Fred Warner became the highest-paid inside linebacker in the NFL on Wednesday, but a closer look at the mega-deal shows just how lucrative the deal really is and could be.

As Mike Garafolo reported, the base value of Warner’s deal is five years, $ 95 million. The extension also includes $ 40.5 million guaranteed. But that doesn’t tell nearly the whole story, thanks to a unique structure that essentially makes it two deals in one.

The “first” deal is a five-year extension in which the last two years are automatically canceled to make it a three-year extension. In this scenario, that’s $ 54.9 million in new money over three new years – $ 18.3 million on average. That overshadows the three-year extension Seahawks linebacker Bobby Wagner signed in 2019, which was $ 54.0 million ($ 18.0 million on average).

Using the four-year total for Warner’s deal, he gets $ 40.5 million guaranteed out of the $ 58.5 million paid in the total four years. This is 69% of the guaranteed contract, against 61% for Wagner.

The “second” deal is that the 49ers can buy back the last two years – after their cancellation – by paying Warner $ 21.85 million in 2025. In this scenario, the total new money would become $ 76.8 million. dollars – $ 19.2 million on average. .

If Warner plays the entire contract, it’s a five-year extension for $ 95.0 million, or an average of $ 19.0 million. That still makes him the highest paid in his job.

The creative structure of the deal gives Warner a ton of security up front with a record short-term extension that’s almost 70% guaranteed. Plus, it also gives the 49ers the choice to make a few years later.