Pro Football Rumors
The 49ers have again made Fred Warner the NFL’s highest-paid off-ball linebacker. The franchise did this in 2021 as well. A team that has employed All-Pro NaVorro Bowman and Hall of Famer Patrick Willis over the past 15 years, the 49ers have spent on the high end to fortify this position. Other clubs, however, have been far more hesitant to unload significant cash to staff this job.
The $20MM-per-year linebacker club consists of only two players (Warner, Roquan Smith), but only four surpass $15MM per year presently. Last year saw the Jaguars and Jets (Foye Oluokun, C.J. Mosley) trim their priciest ILBs’ salaries in exchange for guarantees, and the Colts did not make it too far with Shaquille Leonard‘s big-ticket extension. Although some contracts handed out this offseason created optimism about this stubborn market, franchises’ pasts here do not depict a trend of paying second-level defenders.
Excluding rookie contracts and arranged by guaranteed money, here is (via OvertheCap) the richest contract each franchise has given to an off-ball ‘backer:
Milano’s first extension (in 2021) brought more in overall value and fully guaranteed money, but the 2023 pact provided more in total guarantees
Shaq Thompson‘s 2019 extension brought a higher AAV ($13.54MM), but Kuechly’s included more in guarantees
Dre Greenlaw‘s 2025 contract (three years, $31.5MM) brought a higher AAV but a lower guarantee
Azeez Al-Shaair checks in atop franchise history in AAV ($11.33MM) but fell short of McKinney’s in guarantees
*Rolando McClain‘s 2010 rookie contract, agreed to in the final year before the rookie-scale system debuted, checked in higher in...
