The 49ers are expected to have approximately $50 million in space under the 2016 salary cap, according to the latest figures released by the NFL Players Association.
The 49ers finished the 2015 season with $12,206,686 million under the league’s salary cap. That money rolls over to the 2016 season season as a credit. The 49ers have 62 players under contract and have $101,730,482 accounted for next year’s cap -- a figure that includes the rollover.
The salary cap for next year is expected to jump approximately $10 million per team to somewhere from $150 million and $153.4 million, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported recently.
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The 49ers have the fourth-most amount of cap space, according to NFLPA figures, behind Jacksonville ($80.6 million), Oakland ($82.3 million) and Chicago ($98.9 million).
When asked last week about the 49ers’ approach this season to free agency with the ability to spend a lot of money, general manager Trent Baalke cautioned the organization would not spend wildly.
“The one thing that I’m convinced of is you can’t buy championships,” Baalke said. “You earn championships and there’s a process to it. You build through the draft. You supplement your roster with free agency. You take care of your own guys because that creates ownership on their part.
“So to say we’re going to go out and because we have X-number of dollars to spend, how are we going to spend that? Are you going to spend that on two players or are you going to spend that on 12 players? I don’t know. I don’t have that answer right now nor would I from a competitive standpoint share that. But there’s different ways to use that money. We just have to make sure we use it correctly.”