Nick Bosa 'pretty confident' 49ers will do right by him with new contract

With a cap hit of $10.8 million in 2022, San Francisco 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa may have been the biggest bargain in all of football.

After his 18.5-sack season in which he won NFL Defensive Player of the Year and was named a first-team All-Pro, Bosa’s next contract could set a record for his position and be the most lucrative in 49ers history. 

"I think I'll get what I deserve," Bosa told reporters on Tuesday, via NBC Sports Bay Area.

Bosa has had as good of a two-year stretch as any edge-rusher in the NFL. He’s compiled 186 pressures, 98 hurries, 48 QB hits, 40 tackles for loss and 34 sacks, according to Pro Football Focus. He led the NFL in sacks in 2022 and ranked fourth in 2021.

The 25-year-old defensive end is entering the final year of his rookie deal and is set to make $17.9 million in 2023 under his fifth-year option. Pittsburgh’s T.J. Watt is the highest-paid edge-rusher in the NFL at $28 million per season. Bosa’s brother Joey is currently the second-highest-paid edge-rusher at $27 million per year.

Bosa’s projected market value is $28.6 million per season, according to Spotrac, but reports indicate that he could be the NFL’s first $30 million-per-year edge-rusher. Bosa would join Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald as the only two defensive players in NFL history to make $30 million or more per season.

Both Bosa and the 49ers have indicated that the target date for getting an extension done seems to be before training camp. And while that’s only a little more than a month away, both sides seem to be in agreement that they’re not worried about a deal getting done.

"[My confidence in getting a deal done before training camp is] pretty high," Bosa said. "Yeah, I think I'm pretty confident about that."

"Nick, he's not a guy I really ever worry about, whether it's a contract year or not," 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters. "And I know Nick's doing his work. I know Nick is obsessive with his job and obsessive with being the best he can be, so it's usually pretty easy with that stuff. We don't even need to mention the contract. It's more the same conversation I've had the last three years with him when he comes in."