Starting today, I’m going to have a 9-part series showing how much of the 49ers 2021 salary cap a certain position group takes up, and today we start off with the Quarterbacks.
The 49ers have 4 quarterbacks signed(once Lance signs) for 2021, where they are set to count $34,238,326 against the 2021 salary cap.
We start with Jimmy Garoppolo, his cap number for 2021 is $26,382,353, and he’s expected to be the teams starting quarterback come week 1, there is a small chance we may see Trey Lance starting.
If the 49ers were to release or trade Garoppolo right now, they’d save $24,982,353, while having $1.4 million dead money hits for 2021 & 2022.
But this isn’t likely to happen, and as I mentioned in yesterday’s article, redoing his deal would be a bad idea, where the team would lose either $18.42 million or $11,512,500 in savings for 2022, depending on whether the team were to add voidable years, or keep his deal at just 2 remaining seasons.
The 49ers need the $25.6 million they’ll save when unloading Jimmy in 2022, so a restructure just isn’t in the cards, and isn’t a good idea.
Next we have the 3rd-overall pick, Trey Lance, who will count $6,200,973 against the 2021 cap.
He’s set to sign a fully guaranteed 4-year deal, worth $34,150,350, with a massive $22,163,892 signing bonus, give or take a few dollars.
The big reason for having a quarterback on a cheap rookie contract, is so the 49ers have the money both for 2022, and beyond to extend & re-sign key players, like Fred Warner, Nick Bosa, Deebo Samuel, Dre Greenlaw, Javon Kinlaw, Brandon Aiyuk when it comes to extensions, while guys like Jason Verrett, D.J. Jones, K’Waun Williams, Jaquiski Tartt, Raheem Mostert, & Jeff Wilson Jr. as key 2021 free agents, obviously they won’t re-sign all, but by having a QB on a rookie contract will give them the ability to extend & re-sign key & core players.
Next we have Nate Sudfeld, who is set to count $850,000 against the cap, with $252,000 of his guaranteed.
The thing about his guaranteed money is, that’s the amount he’d make on the practice squad for this season.
If they do release Sudfeld to keep Rosen, then they’ll basically lose $252,000 in cap room, as Sudfeld would have his practice squad salary, while Rosen would cost $850,000, and they’d still have to have that $252,000 guaranteed money as dead money.
Now Sudfeld isn’t the best player, but Kyle Shanahan saw something in him, so we’ll have to wait and see how he looks in training camp, as well as the preseason.
Last is Josh Rosen, who like Sudfeld, would count $850,000 against the 2021 cap.
Again, if the 49ers decide to keep Rosen over Sudfeld, while also keeping Sudfeld on the practice squad, then they’d have $252,000 less in cap room, as the team wouldn’t get that money back until 2022.
By keeping Rosen, you have a guy who the 49ers could develop into a potential #2 QB, as he’ll be a RFA in 2022, and the 49ers will only have to tender him the original round tender, which will be, if the cap is $208.2 million, $2.396 million, while they’d get back a 1st-round pick if someone wanted him, but that’s very unlikely.
So we all know Jimmy Garoppolo, & Trey Lance are going to be here for 2021, the question is who is the 3rd QB? Sudfeld or Rosen? As of now I’d say Sudfeld, but as I said, we have to wait and see how they look, especially in the preseason.
So with all of this said, I thank everyone for reading 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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