So, yesterday I went over why trading for Dolphins cornerback Xavien Howard wasn’t feasible or smart, both for 2021, & in the long term, but I realized that I forgot to mention a few things, in addition to what I said yesterday.
The 49ers have 4 potential players that they could either extend, or move on from, but, it’s not as simple as it seems, so let’s take a look below.
First up is right tackle Mike McGlinchey, who has a $10.808 million base salary for 2022, which is his 5th-year option, which the 49ers exercised back in May, but the difference between the 2011 CBA vs. the 2020 CBA is that the 5th-year option is now fully guaranteed once exercised, under the old CBA, the 5th-year option was injury guaranteed, and fully guaranteed on the first day of the new league year.
Now, the 49ers can’t simply release McGlinchey, but they could trade him, but that seems unlikely, due to the fact that if McGlinchey plays badly, I’m not sure who’s willing to take on a fully guaranteed $10.808 million, or if he plays well, the 49ers might either extend him, or let 2022 play out to see if he can play well in back to back seasons.
Next, we have defensive end Samson Ebukam, who signed a 2-year deal in March, worth $6 million a year, with $750,000 in additional incentives that he can earn in both 2021 & 2022, but he is a guy that the 49ers can get out of the contract, as he’s scheduled to make $6.5 million, comprised of a $5.9 million base salary, a $500,000 per game roster bonus, and a $100,000 workout bonus.
While the 49ers could release Ebukam if he doesn’t live up to the contract, they could also opt to extend him, especially if he continues to look as good as reports are saying he has in practices thus far in training camp.
Next is another defensive end, Dee Ford, who, has become a player that many wanted the 49ers to just release this offseason, but as I went over during the lead up to the open of free agency, Ford had a $11.6 million injury guarantee, which would have vested to fully guaranteed on April 1, but had they simply cut Ford, the team would have lost a lot of cap room, so they did the wise thing in my mind, by restructuring the deal.
Under the new terms of his 2-year deal, he’s set to make, on average, $7 million a year, which doesn’t include the money he’s already made as part of the initial 5-year deal, worth $17 million a year, and the restructure saved the 49ers over $11 million in 2021, and over $9 million in 2022.
Now, in 2022, Ford has a injury guaranteed $4.6 million roster bonus, but unlike other injury guarantees that the 49ers put in multi-year contracts, this one doesn’t become fully guaranteed on April 1, 2022, instead, the bonus becomes guaranteed, according to my source, is either the 2nd or 5th day of the waiver period, which is right after the super bowl, so the 49ers will have decide whether to keep Ford, or to let him go.
If he plays well, I’d think they’d hold onto him, if not, they’ll likely release him, unless the injury protection kicks in of course.
Finally, we have cornerback Emmanuel Moseley, who, in 2022 will have a $4.4 million base salary, that is currently guaranteed for skill & injury, and vests to fully guaranteed on April 1, 2022.
Moseley is a guy, who I think, 2021 is kind of a make or break year, which is why I was kind of surprised that the 49ers signed him to a 2-year deal, instead of a 1-year deal, but it is what it is.
Anyway, if Moseley plays well in 2021, there’s no way the 49ers are letting go of Moseley, plus he’s also a potential extension candidate.
Now, as far as extensions are concerned with McGlinchey, Ebukam, & Moseley, they’d save around, maximum, $7,818,400 for McGlinchey, $3.892 million for Ebukam, and $2.692 million for Moseley, so a total of $14,402,400, which is a good amount, but the thing is, you can’t assume that all of these 3 things will happen, or any of them will, it’s way too early to know how all 3 players will play.
Another factor is that Xavien Howard wants more guaranteed money, he’s got 4-years left on his deal, so he really has no leverage here, but, I’m not sure he’d be for lowering his 2021 base salary, mainly, because it’s already fully guaranteed.
So, the issue is long term, he wants more guaranteed money after 2021, and according to Howard’s agency, CAA, they made some proposals that, I believe, would just guarantee, fully, some of his 2022-2024 salaries.
Now, the biggest issue with a trade for Howard is the fact that he has a $12.075 million base salary, the 49ers don’t have that kind of cap room, and as I explained yesterday, there’s a ripple effect of redoing deals to make Howard fit under the cap, as the 49ers will be, at a maximum, between $4.5 million to $5.5 million under the cap when the season begins.
Another factor is, what will it take to get Howard from Miami, as the 49ers are pretty thin on draft picks the next 2 years, with no 1st-rounder until 2024.
So, this is basically like the Julio Jones trade discussion, where the 49ers didn’t have the cap room to fit Jones under the cap, plus the picks it would have took to get him, with Kyle Shanahan noting that as a reason for not making a serious push for Jones, despite giving him rave praises, while it was pretty clear that it would have taken a lot of salary cap maneuvering to make a deal work, which is the same thing with a potential Xavien Howard trade.
So, hopefully, this will show that it’s really not likely the 49ers make a deal for Howard, nor should they, they just invested a 3rd-rounder(Ambry Thomas) & a 5th-rounder(Deommodore Lenoir) on cornerbacks, plus retaining Moseley, K’Waun Williams, & Jason Verrett.
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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