Jimmy Garoppolo didn’t just lead his San Francisco 49ers to a Week 2 win over the Seattle Seahawks after starting quarterback Trey Lance suffered a season-ending injury. He also earned himself $350,000 in bonus cash in the process.
Garoppolo restructured his contract during the preseason after opposing teams balked at the idea of trading for a veteran quarterback who would take up $25 million of salary cap space. Rather than be released by the Niners and tossed onto the free agent scrap pile, the the 30-year-old took a pay cut to $6.5 million in guaranteed salary.
That isn’t the be-all, end-all of his deal, however. Garoppolo and his representatives negotiated a generous per-game incentive structure in case of an emergency like the one that befell Lance Sunday afternoon. The outcome could mean $5.6 million in extra money by the time the 2022 regular season is over.
For each game that Jimmy Garoppolo plays at least 25% of the snaps, he earns $250K. If the 49ers win that game, the number jumps to $350K.
As the starter going forward, he now has the chance to earn $5.6M via incentives in the regular season.
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) September 19, 2022
If Garoppolo can avoid injury and finish up the year, he’ll earn $4 million in incentives — $250,000 per game. If he can win all 16 of those games he’ll tack on an extra $1.6 million — $100,000 per victory.
That pales in comparison to the $26.5 million he would have made had he held onto the starting job and convinced the 49ers to delay the Lance experiment one more year. It’s not pocket change either.
Garoppolo wasn’t asked to do much in his 2022 debut. He only threw 21 passes for an offense that ran the ball 45 times in a blowout win. Only three of those attempts traveled more than 15 yards downfield.
Now he’s playing for up to $350,000 per game as well as putting together a sizzle reel for any interested teams who’d like to sign him next offseason. That’s proper motivation for the reinstated starting quarterback of a team with real Super Bowl aspirations. Expect a few more fireworks from the Niners’ QB going forward.
