Revisiting the 49ers 2020 & Beyond Salary Cap Situation Post Emmanuel Sanders Trade

Recently I went deeper into the 49ers 2020 salary cap and beyond, and with the trade for Emmanuel Sanders, now is a great time to dive back in.

For the next 10 weeks/games, Sanders will earn $5,970,588.

At this moment, I have the 49ers at $12,723,862 under the 2019 salary cap, but again like I mentioned in my previous article, the 49ers will have to pay back roster bonuses to several players, all totaled it would cost the 49ers $2,612,500 in cap room.

Another thing is Richard Sherman’s $4 million in incentives, broken down as $1 million for making the pro bowl, $1 million for playing 90% of the defensive snaps, and $2 million for making the all pro team.

In this article, I’ll yet again outline, how we can retain our bigger name free agents in 2020, while still being able to extend a number of key players that I outlined in the last article.
I’ve identified eight players who are in line for new deals, and they are below.

FB Kyle Juszyzck
TE George Kittle
DE Arik Armstead
DE Ronald Blair III
DT DeForest Buckner
CB Richard Sherman
CB Ahkello Witherspoon
FS Jimmie Ward

With Juszyzck, Buckner, and Sherman, they can convert most of their base salaries in 2020, using the difference to their bonus structures.

With Kittle, Armstead, Blair, Witherspoon, and Ward, they will cost salary cap room, so the 49ers can create it by restructuring Jimmy Garoppolo’s deal.

By doing so, the 49ers would create $19.204 million in cap space; also, the 49ers will likely move on from Jerick McKinnon.

I have the following average per year for the above eight players.

FB Kyle Juszyzck – $5 million
TE George Kittle – $12 million
DE Arik Armstead – $12 million
DE Ronald Blair III – $5 million
DT DeForest Buckner – $20 million
CB Richard Sherman – $9 million
CB Ahkello Witherspoon – $7 million
FS Jimmie Ward – $5 million

Now I doubt the 49ers will structure the deals where they have each year having the players APY counting against the cap. Instead, the 49ers will likely backload the deals into 2022 and beyond, when the 49ers have over $125 million in cap room in 2022 and over $211 million in 2023. These assume a $220 million cap for 2022 and a $230 million cap for 2023.

I have the 49ers signing Buckner, and Kittle to 5-year deals through 2025.

I have the 49ers signing Juszyzck, Witherspoon, Blair, Armstead to 4-year deals through 2024.

I have the 49ers signing Sherman to 3-year deals through 2023.

And I have the 49ers signing Ward to a 2-year deal through 2022.

I also have the 49ers tendering Matt Breida at the 2nd-round tender, which should be $3.278 million, while I also have them tendering exclusive rights free agents Nick Mullens, Jeff Wilson Jr., Ross Dwelley, Daniel Brunskill, and Emmanuel Moseley.

Mullens, Wilson, and Dwelley’s tenders would be for $660,000, while Brunskill and Moseley’s tenders would be for $585,000.

Mullens, Wilson, and Dwelley will be restricted free agents in 2021, but I’ve left them off my list as it’s a way to early and hard to project RFA tender amounts for 2021. The same goes for Moseley, and Brunskill, who would be RFAs in 2022.

As for key 2021 free agents, I have the 49ers re-signing Jaquiski Tartt to a 3-year deal, averaging $5 million a year, K’Waun Williams to a 3-year deal, averaging $3 million a year, Matt Breida to a 3-year deal, averaging $4.5 million a year, and Tevin Coleman to a 2-year deal, averaging $4.5 million a year.

I have the 49ers restructuring Jimmy Garoppolo’s deal again, which would be the last time doing this, and they would save over $18 million in salary-cap space.

I also have the 49ers restructuring Dee Ford’s deal, which would save the team over $10 million in salary-cap space.

Some other candidates for restructuring’s are Weston Richburg, Joe Staley, Kwon Alexander, and Dee Ford. But hopefully the 49ers don’t have to restructure any of those deals.

But if the 49ers were to restructure these deals, the max savings are below.

Restructuring Richburg’s deal would save the team $4,606,666 in cap space, this is assuming they don’t extend Richburg’s deal, if they did the max savings would be $5.364 million, this assumes the 49ers add 2 years onto Richburg’s deal.

If the 49ers didn’t extend Richburg, it would add $1,893,333 to his cap numbers in 2021-2022, while extending Richburg through 2024 would add $1.136 million to his cap numbers.

Restructuring Staley’s deal would save the team $5,797,500 , but it would add $4,752,500 to his 2021 cap number. I don’t see Staley playing beyond 2021, since he’s currently 35 years old.

Restructuring Alexander’s deal would save the team $7,773,333 in cap space, but would add $3,476,666 to his cap numbers in 2021-2022.

Restructuring Ford’s deal would save the team $10,442,500 in cap space , but would add $3,207,500 to his salary cap numbers in 2021-2023.

With Emmanuel Sanders on the team, it looks like Marquise Goodwin’s time will be up very soon, as it would save the team $3.875 million in 2020, and $7.625 million in 2021 if cut or traded.

Next is Jerick McKinnon, who has a $2.6 million guarantee, which is for injury, and fully on April 1, 2020.

If McKinnon is healthy, the 49ers would save around $3.89 million in cap space, if not healthy, they’d only save $1.29 million.

Now let’s get back to the salary cap in 2020, I expect the 49ers to get between $5 million, and $8 million in adjustments/credits. Which is extra cap space.

If the 49ers make the moves above, they would be left with $6,992,659 in cap room for 2020, and only their 1st-round pick would count against the cap during the offseason, which is only the top 51 salaries, and of course dead money.

This would lock up Buckner, Armstead, Kittle, Sherman, Juszyczk, Witherspoon, and Blair on multi-year deals, while keeping their flexibility to add some veterans in free agency.

I don’t see them adding many, if any, big named free agents, but rather continue to build through the draft, this is also why any trade this season makes no sense, as it would deplete their cap room, and leave no carryover for 2020, making it impossible to keep their core together.

Emmanuel Sanders is a player I’m sure the 49ers will want to keep around, but I’m not sure what his value would be, so I’ve left him out for now.

The only players who will cost cap space are Kittle, and Witherspoon, while they can convert most of Juszyczk, Buckner, and Sherman’s base salaries into the bonus structure.

Now it’s tough to determine what their cap hits would be, so I’ve left them at what they are, but the 49ers could save some money with any of these 3 deals.

I’ve also included salary escalations for Kittle, and Witherspoon in my current 2020 salary cap numbers for the PPE(Proven Performance Escalator), as they’ve played 35% of snaps in the first 2 seasons of their career.

As for overall structure, I’d expect them to somewhat front load Buckner, Witherspoon, and Kittle’s deals, while back loading the other deals.

The only other UFA I’d want back is TE Levine Toilolo, who would likely sign a 1-year veteran minimum deal, costing $750,000 against the cap.

Below are the cap tables for 2020-2023, and again I expect the 49ers to backload the deals into 2022 and 2023 for those signing deals that run through those years.

2020:

2021:

2023:

And in 2021, the 49ers have several free agents, namely K’Waun Williams, Matt Breida, Solomon Thomas, D.J. Jones, C.J. Beathard, and Trent Taylor, while Nick Mullens, Jeff WIlson Jr., Ross Dwelley, would be restricted free agents, and Emmanuel Moseley would be a exclusive rights free agent again.

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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