Yes, soon-to-be-former Vikings running back Jerick McKinnon wanted to be the guy. And he apparently will be the guy.
Multiple reports indicate that the 49ers will give McKinnon a four-year, $30 million contract. If those numbers are accurate (and we know that sometimes they aren’t), it’s an average of $7.5 million per year.
Missing in the reports are key details like signing bonus, guarantee at signing, and cash flow in the early years of the deal. Without that information, it’s impossible to properly assess the contract.
For instance (and this is an extreme example), McKinnon’s deal could call for him to get $1 million in 2018, $1 million in 2019, $1 million in 2020, and $27 million in 2021. That would still be a four-year, $30 million deal.
There’s no chance McKinnon’s deal would be structured like that, for numerous reasons. The point is that there’s no way to know whether the deal is truly a $7.5 million-per-year contract without digging into details that weren’t leaked when the total base value was.