49ers Mailbag: The impact of Brooks' deal

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The bar has been set for Dashon Goldson and Carlos Rogers, Pro Bowl players in the 49ers secondary who do not yet hold contract offers to return to the 49ers next season.
The 49ers signed outside linebacker Ahmad Brooks to a six-year extension. The maximum payout is 44.5 million, and his agent said that 17.5 million is guaranteed.Let's go to the 49ers Mailbag to answer some questions . . .

What changed with Brooks? You seemed all but certain that he would walk. (Matt Brantley)
That answer will likely be available later this week when the true contract numbers of the contract are filed with the league. The agent typically controls the first wave of reported contract numbers, and almost without fail those figures are inflated.There are a lot of people around the league who are curious to see exactly how much the 49ers paid to retain Brooks, who played well last season in his first year as an NFL starter. In five previous NFL seasons, Brooks started a combined an eight games.RELATED: Ahmad Brooks 2011 game logssplitscareer stats
I was not certain Brooks would leave the 49ers as a free agent. But if you told me that Brooks would only re-sign as the third-highest paid 49ers player at 7.4 million annually (behind only Patrick Willis and Justin Smith), then -- yes, I would've figured he would not return. Now that the 49ers have signed Ahmad Brooks, who is likely going to be the odd man out of the free-agent returnees? (Bryon Hughes)
Quarterback Alex Smith will be re-signed. And safety Dashon Goldson will be back. The 49ers can easily retain him under the franchise tag by the March 5 deadline.So that leaves cornerback Carlos Rogers, who has repeatedly said he wants to be back with the 49ers but he also wants to be paid fair market value. His agent might consider fair market value for a Pro Bowl cornerback to be in the 10 million annual range.RELATED: Carlos Rogers 2011 game logssplitscareer stats
It seems unlikely Rogers will re-sign before the March 13 opening of free agency. Then, the market will determine the rest. If the other NFL teams are reluctant to placate Rogers with the kind of contract he desires, then there's a strong chance the 49ers could re-enter the race.With Ahmad Brooks signing a long term deal will he and Aldon Smith be the OLBs? Are Parys Haralson's days numbered? (Danny Wright)
Brooks was an every-down player last season, and now he has the contract that guarantees he'll be playing full-time in the 49ers' front seven for the foreseeable future.Is Aldon Smith going to be an every-down player in 2012? When I posed that question to general manager Trent Baalke last week, Baalke seemed to think it was laughable that I'd even be ask something with such an obvious answer."Huh," he said laughing. "Yeah. I think that's safe to say. Yes."RELATED: Baalke -- Aldon Smith will be every-down player
Parys Haralson has a 2.45 million scheduled salary for 2012. His days with the 49ers might not be numbered -- because, remember, the 49ers don't have any depth at outside linebacker. But his days as a starter are definitely over as long as the 49ers remain at full strength with Brooks and Aldon Smith.The question then becomes if the 49ers feel Haralson's salary is in line with a role player who does not play much on special teams. They might ask him to re-do his contract.

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