NFL Network host blasts 49ers over Nick Bosa contract delay

NFL Network host Mike Yam can't believe the San Francisco 49ers still haven't paid superstar pass-rusher Nick Bosa with the Week 1 matchup against the Pittsburgh Steelers now nine days away. 

"I actually think that this is the most underreported story in the NFL," Yam said during a Friday appearance on San Francisco sports radio station 95.7 The Game, per David Bonilla of 49ers WebZone. "...I don't get how this is not done. And I know that this is a ridiculous oversimplification of all of this stuff, but he's the reigning Defensive Player of the Year. He is one of the leaders of your football team. And you're ready to go and get to a Super Bowl and potentially go and win it. Don't you just make (Bosa) the (highest-paid) defensive player in the league?"

Bosa is in the final year of his rookie contract and presumably wants to become the highest-paid defensive player in NFL history. 

The 25-year-old has remained away from the club throughout the summer and has given no indication he'll play without receiving financial guarantees beyond the upcoming season not related to any franchise tag. Neither 49ers general manager John Lynch nor head coach Kyle Shanahan expressed much confidence on Wednesday that a deal will get done over the holiday weekend. 

"I just am surprised that it's taken this long," Yam added. "And once again, I know that's an oversimplification of it—just make him the highest-paid guy and just move on. But the fact that he's not with this team, and I don't know if he's going to play Week 1, to me, that's a huge miss. Huge miss."

As of Friday afternoon, OddsChecker listed the 49ers as the favorites (-135, -2.5) to defeat the Steelers at Acrisure Stadium on the second Sunday of September. That same outlet had the Niners as second among the betting favorites at +400 to play in Super Bowl LVIII this coming February. 

Lynch insisted on multiple occasions this week the San Francisco front office has had "communication" with Bosa's camp. Both the executive and Shanahan made it known that trading the All-Pro before or during the season isn't on the table. 

The 49ers are looking to make a third-consecutive trip to the conference title game and also a return to the Super Bowl for the first time since February 2020. Logic suggests it's a matter of when, not if, Lynch caves and pays Bosa in time for the second pick of the 2019 NFL Draft to play against Pittsburgh.