Someone was gonna pay him (He was a FA), if SF didn't so they had to make a choice, pay him or lose him. you have to realize garapollo was sitting behind brady all those years, people have always thought he might be good, before he started a game. That SF looks dead in the water he starts and they can't lose basically in 2017. Did they overpay for him absolutely, but if you don't have a qb you don't have a watchable product. sorry. So paying up for him although risky with the unproven track record, may of been necessary, because it is hard to find talent at the position come available, outside of unproven draft guys, I know to a degree he is unproven still, but you went in thinking he would be good, and the track record in 2017 didn't change your mind, and so far in 2018, I still think he is gonna be at least a solid starter with a chance for more. Those are rare to find, so I understand why they paid him, did he deserve the size of the contract absolutely not. But I get why they didn't want this guy to leave, as for the salary cap the qb is the one position that you don't care about if he eats up some cap room without a good one your team is gonna stink. All is just my opinion.