Bowman extension?

[Crimsoncrew]

Does anyone think it's worth trying to work out an extension with Bowman right now? From his perspective, he's due approximately $500K in each of the next two seasons, and then we can consider the franchise tag to keep him another year. Would he be willing to put off a potentially very large payday down the road if we offered him a three-year extension with averages of $6 million, more than 1/2 of it in guarantees? He would gain ~$10 million over the next two seasons, and potentially lose $5-10 million over the final three. Thoughts on this if we let Rogers walk and take a more constrained approach to FA as we did last year?

 

[CalamityX11]

Bowman's agent(if smart) would probably have him wait knowing he could make a big deal if he continues to progress...

I'd luv to resign him sooner the better... but in the 49ers POV, wait til next season(after this coming one)...

 

[luckyluke22]

Yeah I'd wait till next offseason, verify that this year wasn't a fluke, then extend him. Pretty sure Willis was handled in similar fashion.
Not that I think Bowman will regress, but a body of work over two years vs one will better serve as a spring board for future contact extension...

 

[maniax]

If I was Bowman I'd be VERY interested in an extension now.

Playing for $500K a year for the next two years, and he's playing ILB so he takes alot of contact. All it takes is for one player to roll up on his leg and he could tear knee ligaments, or a concussion, or you name it.

If I could get $6M/year now, I'd go for it. $6M/year is more than enough to make you financially set, if you know how to manage your money.

 

[Crimsoncrew]

If I was Bowman I'd be VERY interested in an extension now.

Playing for $500K a year for the next two years, and he's playing ILB so he takes alot of contact. All it takes is for one player to roll up on his leg and he could tear knee ligaments, or a concussion, or you name it.

If I could get $6M/year now, I'd go for it. $6M/year is more than enough to make you financially set, if you know how to manage your money.

That's part of why I think it makes sense for us to make a move now. If he continues his upward trajectory, it will be tough to justify sinking so much cash into the ILB position. And with only one year remaining on his contract, he'll have little incentive to accept a lower salary for slightly increased security. But now, when he could literally make 10X as much money over the next two years, he's got serious incentive to consider an extension.

 

[NinerSickness]

Well the Niners don't really have to give him an extention for 2 more years. The Niners need totake advantage of the time they have with him as a bargain before giving him an extention.

 

[threelittleturds]

Well, if he keeps it up which he surely will without injury. *knock on wood*, he'll probably have 60 mil coming his way in 2014.

If I were the GM, I wouldn't worry about it right now... but after I brought back Rogers, Goldson and Smith... and signed some WRs. I'd start thinking about turning Bowman's 2 yr 1.3 mil contract into either a 4yr 25 mil, or 5yr 35 mil deal.

 

[Crimsoncrew]

Well the Niners don't really have to give him an extention for 2 more years. The Niners need totake advantage of the time they have with him as a bargain before giving him an extention.

If they do that, there is a very good chance they'll lose him in two years.

 

[AU_Fever]

If they do that, there is a very good chance they'll lose him in two years.

I agree Crimson. If the Niners wait for two years and Bowman continues his superb play, he will be gone. Lots of teams would want to sign an impact player on their defense. I don't think the Niners would be able to afford both Bowman and Willis. Bowman would want a big payday.

 

[bvanthielriceyoung]

Does anyone think it's worth trying to work out an extension with Bowman right now? From his perspective, he's due approximately $500K in each of the next two seasons, and then we can consider the franchise tag to keep him another year. Would he be willing to put off a potentially very large payday down the road if we offered him a three-year extension with averages of $6 million, more than 1/2 of it in guarantees? He would gain ~$10 million over the next two seasons, and potentially lose $5-10 million over the final three. Thoughts on this if we let Rogers walk and take a more constrained approach to FA as we did last year?

Hell yes I do. This is my number one move, more so then getting any FA. I was really for the McDonald extension, almost a yr before it happened. I think its extremely important to extend these good young guys before your back is against the wall. The Eagles were popular for this when they were going to the NFC championship every year.

 

[imac_21]

I'm going to present an alternative view point. I wouldn't be terribly disappointed if we didn't keep him when his contract is up. He had a lot of tackles this year, but only 2 sacks, 0 INT and 0 FF.

Also, we aren't going to be able to pay all our defensive players their market value. Can we afford to have two All Pro ILBs at All Pro ILB salary with a salary cap in place? That will take away from another position. I think Bowman is quite replaceable. If for the next couple years T Brown and Bowman both continue to progress along their current path, would you sacrifice a starting CB for a starting ILB when we already have Willis?

What if Bowman's contract means we lose Hunter (who, for the sake of argument, is our starting RB at the time), or Iupati, or whatever WR we add this year? Or Kaepernick (if he is an established starting QB).

I love Bowman, but I think the position is expendable relative to other spots on the field.

 

[numone9er]

I'm going to present an alternative view point. I wouldn't be terribly disappointed if we didn't keep him when his contract is up. He had a lot of tackles this year, but only 2 sacks, 0 INT and 0 FF.

Also, we aren't going to be able to pay all our defensive players their market value. Can we afford to have two All Pro ILBs at All Pro ILB salary with a salary cap in place? That will take away from another position. I think Bowman is quite replaceable. If for the next couple years T Brown and Bowman both continue to progress along their current path, would you sacrifice a starting CB for a starting ILB when we already have Willis?

What if Bowman's contract means we lose Hunter (who, for the sake of argument, is our starting RB at the time), or Iupati, or whatever WR we add this year? Or Kaepernick (if he is an established starting QB).

I love Bowman, but I think the position is expendable relative to other spots on the field.

Wouldn't it make more sense to trade him then?

 

[imac_21]

Wouldn't it make more sense to trade him then?

It would always make more sense to trade a guy than lose him in FA. There are a couple problems with that. First, you need to find a taker and agree on compensation. I could see teams valuing Bowman considerably lower than what the Niners do. They will point to him playing next to Willis and Aldon Smith as well as behind J Smith. He didn't make a lot of plays this year, he made a lot of tackles (yes, he ran down Vick).

The second thing you need to do is speed up the process of replacing him. If we were to trade him in 2013, we would have to draft a replacement for him this year (if we were not willing to go with a rookie). If we let his contract run out after 2013 we get an extra year to find that replacement.

 

[shouldakepowens]

Im not being a debbie downer here but how many ilb's next to ray Lewis left and never lived up to the hype. I can think of hartwell and Scott.

 

[numone9er]

It would always make more sense to trade a guy than lose him in FA. There are a couple problems with that. First, you need to find a taker and agree on compensation. I could see teams valuing Bowman considerably lower than what the Niners do. They will point to him playing next to Willis and Aldon Smith as well as behind J Smith. He didn't make a lot of plays this year, he made a lot of tackles (yes, he ran down Vick).

The second thing you need to do is speed up the process of replacing him. If we were to trade him in 2013, we would have to draft a replacement for him this year (if we were not willing to go with a rookie). If we let his contract run out after 2013 we get an extra year to find that replacement.

Good points. Remember though that Bowman actually did hold his own when Willis was out as well. Obviously he didn't make a ton of sacks and has no FF's, but he did play well even with Willis out. If we were to trade him this year i wonder what we could get for him?

All though the FO probably didn't realize he was going to have an impact so quickly in this league, i would think that the long term plan is to re-sign him to a contract when his runs out. The Ravens were able to keep Ray Lewis and Bart Scott for years and now it's a similar situation with Scott and David Harris for the Jets.

I'm sure we can find a way to make the contract work when the time comes. At that point we will probably be getting ready to lose Justin Smith to retirement. That may open up the cap space that we need. If we could get good value for him i wouldn't be opposed to trading him, but i find it hard to imagine that we just let him walk when his contract runs out.

 

[NinerSickness]

Giving Bowman a big contract now would be one of the dumbest things a GM could do. If he leaves after 2 years he leaves. But use the cheap probowler for a coupld more years while you can.

He's an ILB. That's one of the easiest positions on the field to fill.

 

[numone9er]

Giving Bowman a big contract now would be one of the dumbest things a GM could do. If he leaves after 2 years he leaves. But use the cheap probowler for a coupld more years while you can.

He's an ILB. That's one of the easiest positions on the field to fill.

That is true, but if we have the extra cap space available then why not use it?

Baalke seems to be having success getting FA's to come here for a good price. If it's between Bowman and Mike Iupati or a proven CK, then that makes the decision easier, but the fact is what don't know what our cap situation is going to be like in 2 years. I know you're a big fan of a lot of FA's sickness, but what if there aren't any better options in 2 years? I seriously doubt that the FO just lets him walk. The franchize tag for ILB may be worth the price to keep him around if nothing else.

 

[NinerSickness]

That is true, but if we have the extra cap space available then why not use it?

There's no suck thing as extra cap space. Why not sign Bowman to a big deal? Why not sign Mathis or Carl Nicks to a biig deal? Why not sign any FA?

Signing Bowman to a long term deal now wuold be charity.

 

[deep9er]

Well, if he keeps it up which he surely will without injury. *knock on wood*, he'll probably have 60 mil coming his way in 2014.

If I were the GM, I wouldn't worry about it right now... but after I brought back Rogers, Goldson and Smith... and signed some WRs. I'd start thinking about turning Bowman's 2 yr 1.3 mil contract into either a 4yr 25 mil, or 5yr 35 mil deal.

this approach makes sense to me...sure we want some our players locked up, and i certainly want Bowman too. but there's a team to manage FIRST, so take care of others and see whats left in cap space? cap space this year and next, maybe even a little projections into 2014.

regarding "Bowman is expendable" or "ILB is easier to replace".......somewhat true but when you have a caliber of a "Willis", its deserves a little more planning. Bowman played as well as Willis, its been reported several times this season. Willis was drafted in 2007 and Bowman is 2010, can't help think Bowman is our longer term ILB than Willis. so is Bowman THAT 'expendable'? will we be ok when he leaves knowing Willis peaked?

 

[numone9er]

There's no suck thing as extra cap space. Why not sign Bowman to a big deal? Why not sign Mathis or Carl Nicks to a biig deal? Why not sign any FA?

Signing Bowman to a long term deal now wuold be charity.

I never advocated signing Bowman to a long term deal now. I was just curious about that option since it is an option.

I know you're a big fan of Mathis and Carl Nicks, but i have a problem paying a 31 year old vet big money to learn a new position when Brooks can probably be signed for a more reasonable price and has proven that he can hold down that role in our Defense.

Carl Nicks is going for a huge contract. He wants to be paid more than Jahri Evans and i just don't think he's worth it to come in and play RG. If we move him to replace Iupati, then Iupati has to make the switch and learn how to play RG. I just think it makes more sense to look at other options. It's the same problem i had with Logan Mankins. You can't question how great of players Nicks and Mankins are, but i would rather spend the money on other options. I'd rather have a WR or a DB like Grimes or Greer. I thionk we can find someone in the draft to replace Snyder.