Yesterday I broke down Fred Warner’s new contract extension, that will pay him a bit over $19 million a year, but today I’ve decided to take another look at 2022, now that we know what Warner’s 2022 cap number will be.
Warner is set to have a $8.16 million cap number in 2022, while the 49ers now will have 37 players signed for 2022, accounting for $198,054,307, plus $4,459,181 in dead money, for a total of $202,513,488, and with a projected $208.2 million ceiling, the 49ers would be just $5,686,512 under the cap, but when factoring in the top 51 rule, they’d actually be $4,183,488 over the 2022 cap.
First off, the 49ers will also lose around $3,513,360 in cap room for potential base salary escalators for Deebo Samuel, Dre Greenlaw, & Mitch Wishnowsky, which would put the 49ers at $7,699,848 over the 2022 cap.
Next up is the fact that Jimmy Garoppolo won’t be back in 2022, which will free up, after the top 51 rule factored in, $24.895 million, which would give the team $17,198,152 in cap room, if the 2022 cap is indeed $208.2 million.
Like I’ve said in previous articles, the 49ers will have a good number of pending free agents, but nowhere near as dire as 2021 was, especially with Fred Warner now being extended.
The biggest free agents that the 49ers may look to bring back include, running backs Raheem Mostert, & Jeff Wilson Jr., left guard Laken Tomlinson, nose tackle D.J. Jones, cornerbacks Jason Verrett, & K’Waun Williams, & strong safety Jaquiski Tartt
The 49ers could also look to bring back some of their other free agents who aren’t bigger names, but players who could show something in 2021 to be brought back, those include the likes of wide receiver Trent Sherfield, tight ends Ross Dwelley, & MyCole Pruitt, defensive end Arden Key, defensive tackle Maurice Hurst Jr., nose tackle Zach Kerr, free safeties Tarvarius Moore, & Tony Jefferson, & strong safety Marcell Harris
The team will also have a few RFAs & ERFAs, most notably center Daniel Brunskill, & strongside linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair as RFAs, along as wide receiver Jauan Jennings, & defensive tackle Kevin Givens as ERFAs.
As I’ve said, I believe the 49ers will re-sign their RFAs to 1-year deals worth less than the original round tender, like they did with Jeff Wilson Jr., Ross Dwelley, & Marcell Harris, while ERFA tenders would be just $825,000 for Jennings, & $895,000 for Givens in 2022.
So, even with just around $17 million in cap room, I wouldn’t rule out them bringing back the players they deem to be apart of their core, but there are other ways of creating cap room, one being releasing free safety Jimmie Ward, which, after the top 51 rule, would save $6.795 million, but with Tarvarius Moore’s injury, the 49ers might be best served to keep Ward for 2022.
The team could also either release or extend, depending on their play, the likes of defensive end Samson Ebukam, & cornerback Emmanuel Moseley.
Ebukam is scheduled to have a $5.9 million base salary, while Moseley’s base salary is scheduled to be $4.4 million, which is guaranteed for skill & injury, and fully on April 1, 2022.
If both can play well, the 49ers could extend both, while saving the maximum of $3.892 million for Ebukam, and the maximum of $2.692 million for Moseley.
The 49ers can also save $10.424 million by restructuring Arik Armstead’s contract, and $8.332 million by restructuring George Kittle’s contract.
Also the 49ers will likely want to extend some of their post 2022 free agents, other than Ebukam, & Moseley, those being wide receiver Deebo Samuel, defensive end Nick Bosa, & weakside linebacker Dre Greenlaw.
The 49ers can easily reduce Samuel & Greenlaw’s base salaries to the minimum, and use the difference as part of their prorated bonus, while the 49ers could sign Bosa, who will have his option picked by May 3, 2022, by using his 2022 training camp roster bonus, which is set to be $4,305,225, as part of his prorated bonus, while adding some more to give Bosa what will likely be a very large signing bonus, on a new 5-year extension, in the neighborhood of $30 million a year.
As for Samuel, & Greenlaw, I can see both getting in the $8.5 million to $10 million a year range, depending on how well they continue to develop.
I do want to take a look at one thing for 2021, despite the fact that the 49ers got very creative in extending Fred Warner, by lowering his base salary, and using the difference as his prorated bonus, the team may still need to restructure someone’s contract, with Armstead being the most likely, as it would save the team $4.528 million, as they’ll need around $1.432 million to payback potentially 15 players’ per game roster bonuses, plus around $5 million for in season roster moves.
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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