Nick Bosa’s lengthy contract stalemate with the San Francisco 49ers ended four days before the season began when
he agreed to a contract deal that will make him the NFL’s costliest defensive player ever.
Coach Kyle Shanahan announced Wednesday that the two parties had reached an agreement and that Bosa was on
his way to the team’s facilities. Shanahan is relieved that he can no longer imagine the Niners starting the season
without their finest defensive player.
“You try not to think about it much because it’s not really in my control and let the process play itself out,” he said.
“As the weekend progressed, I gradually realized that we wouldn’t be playing with him. If I had gone back and forth,
I would have been unhappy. I simply decided we weren’t. It’s a huge bonus to have him here. “We are obviously very
excited about it.”
It’s unclear how much he’ll be able to play after spending the entire training camp working out alone.
“We’ll see when he gets here,” Shanahan explained. “I know Nick will get in shape. I am confident that he will be fine.
We’ll be smart about it, and it will be dependent on the next two practices.”
However, completing the transaction in time for Bosa to play this week is a significant lift for a team that enters the
season with championship hopes and does not need to consider the worst-case scenario with Bosa.
The news broke shortly before the Niners took the field for practice on Wednesday, with several of his colleagues
finding out when linebacker Fred Warner sprinted into the locker room screaming about it as the holdout cloud
lifted.
