The San Francisco 49ers have signed linebacker NaVorro Bowman on a four-year contract extension, the team announced Wednesday.
The deal is worth $11 million per season with $20 million guaranteed, ESPN's Adam Schefter reports.
The four years will be added on to Bowman's current deal, which had three years remaining and would have carried an annual average value of $9.05 million. Extending a player with so much time left on his contract is an extreme rarity in the NFL.
Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk originally reported the deal as a seven-year, $77-million contract.
The $11-million annual value ranks Bowman as the sixth highest-paid linebacker in the NFL and second highest-paid inside linebacker behind Luke Kuechly of the Carolina Panthers, according to Spotrac.com.
This is Bowman's third contract of his career after spending his first six seasons with the 49ers. With the exception of the 2014 season lost to a torn ACL/MCL, Bowman has missed no games to injury and recorded at least 143 tackles in each of the past four years he's played.
Bowman has become the leader of the 49ers defense, especially after the retirement of Patrick Willis in 2015. The 2010 third-round pick has been named a First-Team All-Pro linebacker four times and led the NFL in tackles last season.