Jimmy Garoppolo – not Tom Brady, under whom he served as an understudy with the New England Patriots – became the highest-paid player in NFL history the other day when he signed a five-year, $137.5 contract extension with the San Francisco 49ers.

That’s real money, not the kind in the Monopoly game.

It’s an average of $27.5 million per season, with guarantees of $74 million.

Wow!

But as jaw-dropping as that might seem – and it does seem quite jaw-dropping, doesn’t it? – it really isn’t when you get right down to it.

Every NFL team’s goal is to win the Super Bowl, and there is absolutely no chance to do that without a good quarterback. So if the 49ers think Garoppolo can be the franchise quarterback and they have a chance to do so but don’t, they know they could well be kicking themselves for a long, long time. As such, they had to do it. They had no other choice but to do so.

Indeed, you can’t put a price tag on winning and being successful.

The situation with the 49ers is why the Browns, now that John Dorsey has taken over as general manager, are spending so much time and effort – and ultimately money — to find their franchise quarterback this offseason. Actually, in addition to locating their franchise guy, they’re also attempting to find their bridge quarterback to span the time until the franchise guy is ready to take over.

Whew! That’s a lot to do.

Indeed it is.

But unlike his predecessor, former Browns Executive Vice President of Football Operations Sashi Brown, Dorsey realizes that finding those quarterbacks, particularly the franchise one since he would be the starter when the Browns are ready to contend, is his No. 1 task, by far. If he doesn’t do that job properly, then he’ll be out of a job and so will all his lieutenants. That’s even if he does all the other tasks pretty well.

It’s find the quarterbacks or bust, It’s just that simple.

The Browns, with all kinds of money to spend in free agency for the bridge quarterback, and with the Nos. 1 and 4 overall picks and four selections in the top 35 in the NFL Draft to get the franchise one, have the wherewithal to get it right – to get their Garoppolo, and his mentor.

But will they?

As with every offseason in the expansion era, that is not just the big question – but the only one that really matters – for the Browns.