Even after the San Francisco 49ers' bold trade deadline deal for Jimmy Garoppolo, they've yet to play him despite the quarterback being in the final year of his contract.
There's no guarantee the rebuilding Niners will ink the 26-year-old to a long-term deal, but the franchise-tag option provides the franchise with some comfort.
"He does not have to play (this season)," head coach Kyle Shanahan said on KNBR radio's Tolbert and Lund podcast, according to Eric Branch of the San Francisco Gate. "It's not that we're coming to this deadline and we've got to decide our future, ours and his, for both sides. We've got six games left and we're going to have next year, also.
"I know you have to franchise a quarterback to keep him, but quarterbacks are expensive. And that is not that big of a deal to us."
The 49ers have around $51 million in cap space looking ahead to 2018.
If the franchise tag is placed on Garoppolo, he would earn a substantial pay raise. His first contract paid him an average annual salary of $870,000. He would make roughly $25 million on a one-year tag.
"It would be great if it could work out that way (a long-term contract), but that's just not the situation any of us are in," Shanahan said. "So you want to play it out. That is the good thing about the franchise tag and that's what, to me, made it an easier decision to trade for him at the time we did."
