The 49ers and star defensive end Nick Bosa still haven’t agreed to a contract extension. San Francisco has wrapped its fifth day of training camp and the reigning Defensive Player of the Year still has not reported.
While Bosa’s absence looms large, general manager John Lynch on Monday expressed confidence in the club’s mix of urgency to get a deal done, and patience to get the right deal done.
“I’ll just tell you, we have to strike the right mix of urgency,” Lynch said. “I don’t like this. I don’t like not having one of our best players here. We’ve got a really good track record that I’m proud of as a group of having our players in, but I also understand it and understand that we’re going to have to exhibit some patience and understand that ultimately this thing will work out.
I’m very confident in that and we’re just going to have to have that right mix of urgency and patience. And again, I remain confident that we will come to an agreement and get things taken care of so we can have one of our best players, one of the best teammates, this is the guy that addresses our team every Saturday and just gives his wisdom. We miss him and looking forward to the day he’s coming back.”
In an effort to respect privacy on both sides Lynch refused to get into details, but he exuded an assuredness that eventually they’ll agree to a long-term extension.
“No. I’m very confident,” Lynch said.
For now that confidence is the only “update” from the GM. It makes sense that the negotiation is a touch tricky. After all, it will likely make Bosa the highest-paid non-quarterback in the league. The 49ers also have a slew of other salary cap gymnastics to think about when structuring Bosa’s deal. There’s a real chance the hangups are less about money and more about specific contract language and how that money will be distributed in order to best benefit both sides.
Not having Bosa in camp is certainly not optimal for the 49ers, but if any player was going to miss significant time and then hit the ground running it would be him. Lynch didn’t indicate much worry about how much time Bosa has missed, saying when he played he needed only three weeks to really ramp up.
There’s a long way to go until that three-week mark though, so continuing to exercise urgency and patience will be paramount to the 49ers checking their last and biggest offseason box.