One of the NFL’s best young linebackers is getting paid accordingly.
Fred Warner has agreed to a five-year extension with the San Francisco 49ers, NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo reported. The extension is worth more than $95 million, with $40.5 million in guarantees, per Garafolo, making Warner the highest-paid inside linebacker in the league.
The extension was to be expected, especially after Warner made his first Pro Bowl and All-Pro team in 2020. Niners coach Kyle Shanahan said in May an extension was simply “a matter of time,” and more importantly said Warner is “a guy that I plan on being here forever and who has earned that.”
Those who disagree with such a lavish contract likely haven’t been watching the 49ers much in the last year or so. Warner has led the 49ers in tackles in each of his three professional seasons and has averaged 122 tackles per season. He finished with the highest Pro Football Focus grade of anyone in the NFL at his position in 2020.
The supporting evidence doesn’t end there, either. In a rare feat that proved his excellence in all areas of the defensive game, Warner cracked our top 10 coverage defenders list for the 2020 season, with Next Gen Stats vaulting him up to fourth. He’s the only linebacker in the group, posting advanced metrics production that put him ahead of the majority of the league’s best defensive backs in coverage — and Warner plays a position that requires him to effectively stop the run on any given down, too.
