The 49ers have taken measures to create some salary-cap breathing room for the 2024 NFL season.
But do not expect 49ers general manager John Lynch to make huge moves to cut deeply into their cap space. The club is $11.7 million under the cap, according to Spotrac.com.
As Lynch explained to NBC Sports Bay Area last season when the 49ers had more than $41 million in cap space, there are few drawbacks to creating a big cap cushion. After all, unused dollars from one season roll over to the next year.
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“Really, we always look at the cap for three years out,” Lynch said early last season. “Obviously, we have all that room this year. But really it’s to create room for future years because we roll everything over. It helps us in future years because it creates some room we’re going to need.”
The 49ers certainly will need every dollar of cap space in future seasons with quarterback Brock Purdy on track to become the team’s highest-paid player one year from now,
Also, the 49ers would like to sign second-team All-Pro wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk to a multi-year extension. Aiyuk currently counts $14.124 million in cap space for the upcoming season after the 49ers picked up his fifth-year option.
If the sides are able to come together on a contract extension with a large sum of guaranteed money, Aiyuk’s cap number could be greatly reduced for this season, too.
San Francisco 49ers
The 49ers have taken several steps in recent days to create significant cap room this season. The release of defensive tackle Arik Armstead with a post-June 1 designation opened $18 million on the cap.
San Francisco did conversions with the salaries of Fred Warner, George Kittle and Javon Hargrave into bonuses in order to create more than $26 million in combined cap savings.
Also, the 49ers picked up more than $1 million in cap savings with the agreement on a reduced contract for eight-time Pro Bowl fullback Kyle Juszczyk.