49ers running back Frank Gore briefly chatted with the media yesterday and naturally was asked about his future with the team. He wants to stick with the team but if he becomes a free agent so be it. It's the nature of the business after all, but hopefully the 49ers can work something out.

Some people have thrown out DeAngelo Williams recent contract extension as a bit of a measuring stick for Frank Gore. Williams signed a five year contract with the Carolina Panthers worth $43 million, with $21 million guaranteed. The primary comparison for the contract is the fact that Williams is a month older than Gore.

I actually wouldn't be surprised if the 49ers were prepared to give Gore an extension of four or five years. I say that primarily because it would likely be set up where the 49ers would be able to cut him late in the contract and not take much of a cap hit. Although Gore is coming off the hip injury and gets bumps and bruises every year, it's hard to tell how much is left in the tank. He's got a lot more wear on his tires than Williams, but Williams has also dealt with all sorts of injuries.

What kind of contract would you give Gore? Or do you not concern yourself with a long term deal for the 49ers running back?

Unbelievable action today on both rookie signings and free agent signings. After months of sitting and twiddling our thumbs there's actual news to talk about. I want to briefly cover the 1st round picks and their deals as well as the 2nd round picks and then guess when the others will sign.

The two rounds are practically mirror images--the first round has as many draft picks unsigned as the second round has signed. 

So far the highest pick to sign is the 8th overall pick, Rolando McClain who signed a 5 year deal worth $40 million ($23 million guaranteed). That makes 8 first rounders who have signed (with several very close to the edge). The highest second round pick to sign is Roger Saffold (33rd overall) who for 4 years, $6.3 million with $3.9 million guaranteed. Round 2 has had much better success thus far with 27 out of 32 picks signed. 

Most of this information is available through twitter (Adam Schefter is being is usual workhorse self), but Mac'sFootballBlog has a nice list of who's been signed and who hasn't. Go visit his site and drive up his traffic--it's worth it as he's got some other great stuff there. 

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Yesterday the Chargers agreed to a five year deal with Antonio Gates. The deal is worth $36.175 million. It includes $20.4 million in guarantees and averages just over $7 million per year, making him the highest paid TE in the league. Dallas Clark earned $6.77 million making him the highest paid TE in the league last year.

This is an interesting deal for several reasons. First off there's the obvious implications regarding Vernon Davis. Secondly there's the whole issue with the contracts for Vincent Jackson and Marcus McNeil who must be furious right now. Join me after the jump for some number crunching. 

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The NFL owners have been making noises about "uncertain future of the NFL", and the "strong possibility of a lockout". To quote Mike Ditka regarding the possibility of a lockout "I can't believe anybody is that stupid". Keeping with that here are 10 reasons why I think there will be a new CBA done in time to continue football.

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We've had quite a bit of discussion here about Chris Johnson's contract situation. Profootball Talk reports that he and the Titans reached a new deal today. The deal doesn't add any years to his current deal, nor does it add any money. Instead it moves $2.5 million in incentives from 2012 to 2010. Essentially it's a way for both sides to buy another year.

Adds Jason La Confora via Twitter:

The Titans reworked deal with Chris Johnson puts an extra few million in his pocket, and in essence buys the sides another year. The two remaining years - 2011 and 2012 are untouched. So CJ gets enough to play out 2010, but will still be seeking a longterm deal at season's end

I like the deal. I think it's a fair one for both sides, since CJ2K was only scheduled to make $550,000 this year (based on his rookie deal). This is a nice compromise in that it gives CJ2K another year to prove himself the best in the business, while buying time for both sides. Hopefully we'll have a new CBA in place by season's end so that the two sides can come to a new agreement without putting so much guaranteed money on the table. 

It's a creative way to solve the problem and I have to give kudos to both sides for doing it. 

As a reminder, here are Chris Johnson's stats since entering the league:

Last week I wrote an article examining the question of salaries vs performance. In it I compared just the biggest spenders and the biggest misers, without focusing on the 49ers at all. I wanted to re-examine the issue today with a focus on the 49ers, comparing salary vs performance from last year to the rest of the league.

Next week I'll do the same thing, only this time I'll compare the 49ers of 2009 to the 49ers of 2002 (the last time we had a play off appearance). I wanted to go back to 1994 to look at that season's Super Bowl but the USA Today database only goes back to 2000. 

First I wanted to compare the payrolls of the various teams. In 2009 the team with the lowest payroll was the St. Louis Rams (hardly surprising), and the team with the biggest payroll was the New York Giants.

Year / Total Payroll

2009

Team Total Payroll   New York Giants $ 137,638,866                                            Miami Dolphins $ 126,855,921                                            Houston Texans $ 122,573,860                                            New Orleans Saints $ 121,552,424                                            Chicago Bears $ 120,672,110                                            New York Jets $ 120,168,770                                            Pittsburgh Steelers $ 119,604,460                                            Arizona Cardinals $ 116,701,866                                            San Diego Chargers $ 115,264,155                                            Green Bay Packers $ 114,597,569                                            Carolina Panthers $ 112,738,038                                            Buffalo Bills $ 111,956,066                                            Oakland Raiders $ 111,527,250                                            Baltimore Ravens $ 109,200,157                                            Tennessee Titans $ 109,025,090                                            San Francisco 49ers $ 107,746,232                                            Washington Redskins $ 105,049,071                                            Jacksonville Jaguars $ 103,558,989                                            Philadelphia Eagles $ 102,490,815                                            Denver Broncos $ 102,043,735                                            Indianapolis Colts $ 101,203,115                                            Minnesota Vikings $ 99,806,040                                            New England Patriots $ 97,565,413                                            Detroit Lions $ 95,963,320                                            Atlanta Falcons $ 95,492,002                                            Cincinnati Bengals $ 94,591,308                                            Cleveland Browns $ 93,932,182                                            Dallas Cowboys $ 90,650,939                                            Seattle Seahawks $ 89,075,820                                            Tampa Bay Buccaneers $ 84,501,322                                            Kansas City Chiefs $ 83,187,156                                            St. Louis Rams $ 62,384,821

A quick glance shows that the lowest payroll finished with the worst record, whilst the highest payroll didn't finish with the best, but still did pretty good. The 49ers were smack dab in the middle when it came to overall payroll (16th), and I think our 8-8 record reflects that. 2010 will be a different story entirely what with the extension of Brooks, Franklin's franchise tag and the big money given to Patrick Willis. 

Now I don't necessarily think that you can buy a championship, but you can certainly prevent yourselves from winning one if you don't fork out the money (though I'm shocked to see the Cowboys so low on the list of spenders--it somewhat contradicts the perceived notion of Jerry Jones as a big spender). 

Join me after the jump as we look at the 49ers position-by-position payroll

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Yesterday Football Outsiders writer Bill Barnwell wrote a piece for ESPN comparing positions and salaries to determine if teams got what they paid for. I can't quote the whole article because it's an ESPN Insider article but I'll highlight the numbers and do some of my own analysis. I got the salaries from USA Today's Salary Database (They also have one for basketball, baseball and hockey).

I thought the results were interesting and a bit of a mixed bag.

Quarterback

Highest Spenders: San Diego Chargers ($28,604,890)
Lowest Spenders: Buffalo Bills ($3,460,790)

The Chargers have most of that money tied up in Phillip Rivers brand new contract that included $19 million in guaranteed money, plus his regular salary of $6 million. Billy Volek made $2.5 million and Charlie Whitehurst a measley $500k.

It worked out for the Chargers too as they led the league in passing DVOA. On the flip side the Bills ranked near dead last with Trent Edwards coming in at 36th amongst all starting QBs and Ryan Fitzpatrick coming in at 38th (Fitzpatrick made $3 million, Edwards made $460,000)

Join me after the jump as we go through some of the rest of the findings.

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We're all aware of Patrick's recent 5 year $50 million extension and at the time there was much confusion as to how the money breaks down. Thanks to Tre9 for linking to Football Outsiders which has a great breakdown of the numbers plus what it could mean for Chris Johnson.

The first thing that we were getting wrong is looking only at base salary. To quote Football Outsiders:

For the purpose of 30-percent rule calculation, "salary" is defined as base salary plus amounts not treated as signing bonus (for example, option bonus proration and roster bonuses). Willis' 2009 salary of $500,000 plus $1.16 million comprised of amounts not treated as signing bonus resulted in a 30-percent rule "salary" of $1.66 million. This "salary" is then multiplied by 30 percent, resulting in an increase/decrease threshold of $498,000.

That makes things much more easy to navigate.

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