The San Francisco 49ers and defensive tackle Justin Smith have agreed to the terms of a new extension which keeps Smith with the team through 2015. Smith was scheduled to make 8 million dollars this year however with the extension San Francisco was able to open up cap space by paying Smith $4.35 million per year and give him a $6.56 million dollar signing bonus to compensate for the decrease in salary.
The extension is well deserved for Smith. He is averaging more than 6 sacks per season as a member of the 49ers and he has been a key part of what they do on defense. Justin and Aldon Smith (no relation) have been wreaking havoc on opposing quarterbacks the past two seasons for the 49ers and it was important to the organization to keep both of them on board going forward. Smith is approaching the latter half of his career and he has gone as far to say that this may be the last contract he has as a professional.
“I wanted to be here so that makes it simple. I want to be here, they want me to be here so that makes it easy” Smith said after signing his extension. “At this point in my career it’s about wanting to be here and being on a great team and going for a championship. I am very lucky and fortunate.”
Now that San Francisco has freed up some cap space the question is what do they do with it? It is assumed that San Fran will try and get an extension for Frank Gore. Gore has been stellar for the 49ers having rushed for over 1,000 yards in six of his 8 seasons by the bay. Though Gore is coming up on his ninth season in the NFL it will be important to get him signed to an extension because of his steady production over the last few seasons.
With the 49ers locking up Smith, they have a luxury that not many teams have. San Francisco with the roster they have and the players they have under contract now have the ability to go get players that they want but may not necessarily need. For example, Marcus Lattimore. Lattimore is coming off two major knee surgeries that kept him from being a higher draft pick. San Francisco did not have a strong need at running back this offseason but with Frank Gore getting older it’s important for the 49ers to think about the future. Kendall Hunter and LaMichael James are still very raw and developing so drafting Lattimore is a low risk, high reward pick.
Justin Smith says that this 49ers team is the most talented roster he has been a part of. Going into year three of the Jim Harbaugh Era, the 49ers are poised to make another run at the Super Bowl in 2013.
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