Taking another early look towards the 49ers 2023 offseason

With the 49ers set to end the regular season Sunday, when they take on the Arizona Cardinals, I think it’s time to take another early look towards 2023, and the 2023 offseason.

First off, the 49ers have a projected $8,837,783 in cap room, but that’s with just 33 players signed, so when they have enough players signed to get to the top 51 rule, they’d be $4,662,217 over a projected $225 million cap, but this doesn’t include carryover, which right now I have them at a bit over $5.864 million, or potential credits, which should come in a little over $6.584 million.

Below are the 33 players, plus their 2023 cap number.

1. QB 5 Trey Lance(2024)- $9,301,434
2. QB 13 Brock Purdy(2024)- $889,253
3. RB 23 Christian McCaffrey(2025)- $12,000,000
4. RB 25 Elijah Mitchell(2024)- $985,893
5. RB 32 Tyrion Davis-Price(2025)- $1,161,033
6. RB 24 Jordan Mason(2024)- $873,333
7. FB 44 Kyle Juszczyk(2025)- $6,565,221
8. WR 19 Deebo Samuel(2025)- $8,653,529
9. WR 11 Brandon Aiyuk(2023)- $3,987,248
10. WR/KR/PR 3 Ray-Ray McCloud III(2023)- $2,090,000
11. WR 6 Danny Gray(2025)- $1,146,569
12. TE 85 George Kittle(2025)- $18,033,751
13. TE 89 Charlie Woerner(2023)- $1,055,258
14. LG 65 Aaron Banks(2024)- $1,929,166
15. LG 63 Nick Zakelj(2025)- $917,590
16. RG 74 Spencer Burford(2025)- $1,038,014
17. LT 71 Trent Williams(2026)- $27,227,424
18. RT 76 Jaylon Moore(2024)- $1,020,759
19. DE 97 Nick Bosa(2023)- $17,869,000
20. DE 95 Drake Jackson(2025)- $1,339,180
21. DT 91 Arik Armstead(2024)- $23,993,059
22. DT/NT 99 Javon Kinlaw(2023)- $4,928,223
23. NT 93 Kalia Davis(2025)- $903,003
24. WLB 57 Dre Greenlaw(2024)- $5,677,970
25. MLB 54 Fred Warner(2026)- $18,525,000
26. MLB 48 Oren Burks(2023)- $2,773,000
27. CB 7 Charvarius Ward(2024)- $16,405,000
28. CB 20 Ambry Thomas(2024)- $1,305,232
29. CB 38 Deommodore Lenoir(2024)- $1,011,217
30. CB 26 Samuel Womack III(2025)- $940,831
31. SS 29 Talanoa Hufanga(2024)- $1,000,038
32. SS 30 George Odum(2024)- $1,840,000
33. P 18 Mitch Wishnowsky(2026)- $1,700,000

Now, the 49ers, as I stated above have around $5.864 million in salary cap room, but if the 49ers elevate 2 players this week, plus Fred Warner, & Charvarius Ward play this weekend, the 49ers carryover should come in between $5.283 million to $5.715 million plus the $6.584 million in adjustments/credits, giving the team between $11.867 million to $12.299 million more to spend than what the 2023 salary cap will likely come in at, which is around $225 million.

Now, let’s talk about the 49ers free agents to be, with them all listed below.

UFA:

QB 10 Jimmy Garoppolo
QB 17 Josh Johnson
TE 82 Ross Dwelley
TE 81 Tyler Kroft
TE 88 Jordan Matthews
C 64 Jake Brendel
RG 60 Daniel Brunskill
RT 69 Mike McGlinchey
DE 56 Samson Ebukam
DE 94 Charles Omenihu
DE 92 Kerry Hyder Jr.
DE 75 Jordan Willis
DT 55 Akeem Spence
DT 96 T.Y. McGill Jr.
DT 96 Maurice Hurst Jr.
NT 98 Hassan Ridgeway
SLB 51 Azeez Al-Shaair
CB 4 Emmanuel Moseley
CB 2 Jason Verrett
FS/CB 1 Jimmie Ward
FS 31 Tashaun Gipson Sr.
FS 33 Tarvarius Moore
PK 9 Robbie Gould
LS 46 Taybor Pepper

RFA:

LT 68 Colton McKivitz
DT 90 Kevin Givens
SLB 45 Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles

ERFA:

WR 15 Jauan Jennings

Practice Squad:

RB 28 Tevin Coleman
WR 83 Willie Snead IV
WR 86 Tay Martin
WR 84 Dazz Newsome
C 67 Keith Ismael
RG 62 Jason Poe
LT 78 Leroy Watson
RT 77 Alfredo Gutierrez
DE 58 Alex Barrett
DE 53 Kemoko Turay
DT 50 Michael Dwumfour
WLB 59 Curtis Robinson
SLB 40 Marcelino McCrary-Ball
CB 27 Dontae Johnson (PS-IR)
CB 22 Janoris Jenkins
CB 43 Qwuantrezz Knight
FS 41 Tayler Hawkins

For those who want to know what I would do if I was GM of the 49ers, click here, which is my offseason plan, current as of today.

I believe the 49ers will tender all of their RFA, & ERFA’s, while signing most of their practice squaders to reserve/future deals.

In order to tender strongside linebacker Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles, & defensive tackle Kevin Givens, it will take at least $2.629 million, but I’d say both are worth the tender amount, but the 49ers could look to lock these two up on cheap multi-year deals, similar to what they did with Emmanuel Moseley back in 2021.

Now, to tender left tackle Colton McKivitz, it’ll take a tender amount of $2.745 million, while tendering wide receiver Jauan Jennings will cost just $940,000

This would give the 49ers 37 players either signed, or tendered, with them being around $12,344,009 under their projected adjusted cap, which would come in at $237,449,226, meaning they can spend up to that amount on their 2023 roster, but the $12.344 million in cap room is with just 37 players, by adding in enough for 51 players, the 49ers would be $2,474,009 under that adjusted cap, due to having 14 players making at least $750,000 being signed to what will likely be reserve/future deals, which I mentioned earlier.

If the 49ers do sign their practice squaders, all 17 of them, their salaries would be below.

RB Tevin Coleman – $940,000
WR Tay Martin – $750,000
WR Willie Snead IV – $940,000
WR Dazz Newsome – $870,000
C Keith Ismael – $940,000
RG Jason Poe – $750,000
LT Leroy Watson – $750,000
RT Alfredo Gutierrez – $750,000
DE Alex Barrett – $870,000
DE Kemoko Turay – $940,000
DT Michael Dwumfour – $870,000
WLB Curtis Robinson – $940,000
SLB Marcelino McCrary-Ball – $750,000
CB Dontae Johnson – $940,000
CB Qwuantrezz Knight – $750,000
CB Janoris Jenkins – $940,000
FS Tayler Hawkins – $750,000

This would put the 49ers only $154,009 under their projected adjusted cap, which means they will need to do some cap maneuvering to get more salary cap room, with the following players making the most sense for restructures.

RB Christian McCaffrey – $8.576 million max, $7,146,666 minimum

TE George Kittle – $8.456 million max, $7,927,500 minimum

LT Trent Williams – $14.588 million max, $13,676,250 minimum

DT Arik Armstead – $11.78 million max, $11,043,750 minimum

MLB Fred Warner – $9.476 million max, $8,883,750 minimum

Now, I doubt the 49ers will touch Arik Armstead’s deal, as it would make it impossible to get out of his deal in 2024, I also don’t see them touching George Kittle’s contract, as they already restructured it, along with Armstead’s this past March, just to be under the 2022 salary cap.

So, I’d expect them to most definitely redo Christian McCaffrey’s deal, and potentially Trent Williams’, and/or Fred Warner’s deals, despite the fact that the 49ers restructured Trent Williams’ deal this season to gain extra, much needed cap space.

If the 49ers restructure just McCaffrey, & Warner’s deals, they’ll save $18.052 million, which would give them plenty of money to re-sign, or sign replacements for players they end up losing in free agency, plus pay their draft class, which only the 2 3^rd-round compensatory picks would count against the top 51 in the offseason.

The 49ers have 2 big decisions to make in the offseason, 1. They need to either exercise of decline the 5^th-year options of wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk, & defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw, which would cost the team $13.511 million for Aiyuk, & $9.652 million for Kinlaw, and 2. Extend defensive end Nick Bosa, the front runner for NFL Defensive Player of the Year, which will likely come in around $35 million a year, and nearly $110 million in guaranteed money, with over $80 million of it being fully guaranteed.

Now, I know some may be worried about the Bosa extension, especially after what we all went through with the Deebo Samuel contract talks, but I’d expect this deal to be done smoother, as there’s really no one else that will set the EDGE/Non-QB market now that Aaron Donald makes an average of $31,666,667 a year.

Well, there you have it, a look towards the 2023 offseason, but there’s still business to be taken care of this season for the 11-4 49ers, NFC West Champions, as they look to potentially finish the season 13-4, & make a deep run, maybe as far as Super Bowl Champions, so enjoy the rest of the season, & the playoffs.

As always, I thank you for reading, and you can follow me on Twitter @49erscap.

About Author

Jason Hurley

Die Hard 49ers fan from New York, been covering the 49ers salary cap since 2005, with several different websites, including NinersNation.com, & the now defunct NinerCapHell, I have a track record of being as accurate as possible, I try to be as thorough as possible, and you can find me on X/Twitter @49erscap, & on Blue Sky App @49erscap.bsky.social.

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