There’s been a lot of confusion about Dee Ford, his salary for 2022, so let me break it down, and what the 49ers options are.
So, on February 10th, 2022, Dee Ford’s $4.6 million roster bonus will becomes fully guaranteed, as it’s only guaranteed for injury, but due to Ford’s back issues, he’s going to get that roster bonus, which is due by April 1, 2022.
So, let’s look at the 49ers options as far as what to do with Ford.
The first option is keeping him for 2022, at least for training camp, which isn’t a popular choice for many 49ers fans, which means he’d have a $11,909,997 salary cap number, and if he makes the 2022 53-man roster, his base salary will become guaranteed.
The only real option for the 49ers to gain any cap room is to designate Ford as a post June 1 cut, which would save the 49ers $2.4 million before the top 51, $1.505 million after the top 51 is factored in, but it’ll leave dead money charges of $9,509,997 for 2022, & $4,909,999 in 2023, and I say the only real option, because no team will trade for Dee Ford.
The other possibility is that Dee Ford decides to retire, which, if he does so, it’d be in the 49ers best interest to have him wait until after June 1, as they would gain $7 million in cap room before the top 51, $6.105 million after factoring in the top 51.
Now, I don’t 100% know for sure, but if he decided to retire, he should forfeit that $4.6 million roster bonus, and the 49ers can try & recoup his prorated bonuses for 2022, & 2023, but they wouldn’t get it back until 2023.
But what are the likelihood that he’ll actually retire? I honestly don’t know, the 49ers & Ford were very optimistic about him playing this past season, but as we saw, he only played 6 games, missing 11 games.
When looking back at the Dee Ford trade, & contract, it looked like a good deal at first, in 2019 he played in 11 games, had 6.5 sacks, and was a key part of the 49ers pass rush, which really helped lead them to the super bowl, but now, after he missed 15 games in 2020, & as I said, 11 this season, it’s a terrible deal made by the 49ers.
I’d say that this deal, & the deal in 2018 for Jerick McKinnon were probably the 2 biggest mistakes by John Lynch, & the 49ers.
So, at the end of the day, it’s pretty clear that Dee Ford’s days as a 49er are numbered, barring him somehow being 100%, but that’s very unlikely.
And, with all of this said, I thank everyone for reading this article, as always you can follow me on Twitter @49erscap, or leave a comment below, and I’ll get back to you.
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