NOTE: This article was written before the reports that the Browns would lower Beckham’s base salary down to $1 million.
Ok, with the news today that the Cleveland Browns, and star wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. are working on a release, I want to take a look at how the 49ers could claim him, and what would need to be done, but also the ramifications.
If/when Beckham is waived, he’ll have $7.25 million owed to him over the final 9 weeks of the 2021 season, plus he’d be on the books for $13.75 million in base salaries for 2022, & 2023, plus $1 million roster bonuses for 2022, & 2023, and $250,000 workout bonuses for both 2022, & 2023.
As of now, the 49ers have $3,871,939 in salary cap room, but that will change after tomorrow when they have to decide on activating running back Jeff Wilson Jr., tight end George Kittle, & place kicker Robbie Gould off injured lists, with Kittle, & Gould be pretty much locks to come off IR, meaning they’ll need to cut at least 1 player, 2 if Wilson is also activated off of the PUP list.
The most likely candidates to be released in my opinion are running back Trenton Cannon, wide receiver Travis Benjamin, and cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick, other than Cannon, neither Benjamin or Kirkpatrick have done much of anything to contribute, with Kirkpatrick giving up a touchdown late in the lose to the Colts on Sunday Night Football 2 weeks ago.
If the team releases Cannon, they’d save $460,000, if they release Benjamin, they save $425,000, and they’d save $472,222 by releasing Kirkpatrick, that would be a total of $1,357,222, but they don’t need to cut all 3, they’d need to cut either 1 or 2 of them, again 1 if just Kittle, & Gould are activated, or 2 if Wilson is also activated.
If the team decided to not activate Wilson this week, then I think the most likely release would be Travis Benjamin, as it seems Kyle Shanahan, & DeMeco Ryans prefer veteran cornerbacks over someone like Deommodore Lenoir or Ambry Thomas, two promising rookies who really should be getting playing time.
So if Benjamin is just cut, their cap room goes from $3,871,939 to $4,296,939, but the team will also have to elevate at least one safety with the team having just 3 on the 53-man roster(Jimmie Ward, Talanoa Hufanga, & Tavon Wilson), with Ward being listed as questionable, with a quad injury, which is described as a 1-2 week injury, but Kyle did say there is an outside chance he plays, but I’m going to go out on a limb, and say Ward doesn’t suit up, so the team will elevate both safeties on the practice squad, those being Tony Jefferson II, & Will Parks.
Now, if they do elevate both Jefferson, & Parks, they would then get paid 1 weeks worth of what their minimum base salary would be, which is $1.075 million for Jefferson, and $990,000 for Parks.
Now, both players already count for $14,000 a week, as they both have 3 or more accrued years, so if Jefferson is elevated, he would earn $59,722, but only $45,722 would be lost, while elevating Parks would see him earn $55,000, but they’d lose just $41,000, for a total of $86,722 in cap room used up, leaving the team with $4,210,217 in salary cap room heading into week 10.
Now, with that out of the way, let’s look at what the 49ers would need to do to claim Odell Beckham Jr. off of waivers.
Again, OBJ is due $7.25 million over the final 9 week, meaning the 49ers need to create $3,039,783 in salary cap room, with just 4 players with high enough base salaries that they can create cap room, those being quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, left guard Laken Tomlinson, & defensive ends Dee Ford, & Arik Armstead.
With Garoppolo, he’ll be owed $12.05 million of his $24.1 million base salary over the final 9 weeks of the season, meaning they’d be able to create either $5,756,250 if they just prorated the new bonus($11,512,500) over 2-years, or $9.21 million is they prorated that same amount over 5-years, which would require adding 3 void years.
Now the effect that this would have is in 2022, as the 49ers are expected to offload Jimmy Garoppolo, which right now, after factoring in the top 51 rule, would save the team $24.845 million, but they’d lose either $5,756,250 or $9.21 million if they redo him, depending on which way they choose to do so, which makes the savings go from the $24.845 million to either $19,088,750 with no void years, or $15.635 million with the void years.
Now, both look fine, but as I mentioned the other day, the 49ers could be as much as $8,274,098 over the 2022 salary cap, if it reaches the ceiling of $208.2 million, which would leave the team with either $10,814,652 with no void years, or $7,360,902 with void years.
Now, those numbers seem ok, but the 49ers really can’t afford to lose that kind of cap room, when they’ll want to retain some of their own, with left guard Laken Tomlinson, nose tackle D.J. Jones, & cornerback K’Waun Williams being the teams 3 biggest free agents.
Now, let’s talk Tomlinson, he’s owed $2.25 million of his $4.5 million base salary over the final 9 weeks of the season, so if they restructure him, they can save either $1,316,250 if they don’t add an extra void year, as he has enough void years to spread the bonus over 4-years, or $1.404 million if the team added 1 more voidable year.
Now, the effect of restructuring Tomlinson, would be the lose of either $1,316,250, or $1.404 million, this is due the fact that Tomlinson’s contract voids after the 2021 season, sometime in February to be more exact, where he has a pending dead money hit of $1,005,530 from his 2022 restructure.
Next up is Ford, who already restructured his contract this year, where he basically eliminated his 2023 contract year, lowering his base salary for both 2021 & 2022, where they saved the team over $9 million in 2021, & over $10 million in 2022.
So, if they were to go to Ford, who has $2 million of his $4 million guaranteed base salary left to be paid over the final 9 weeks, they could save either $1,003,333 by not adding any void years, or $1.204 million by adding 2 additional void year, as his deal voids after the 2022 season.
Now, the effect of redoing Ford’s deal again, is, that they’d lose either $501,667 in 2022 if they don’t add in void years, or $301,000 if they add in void years, plus they’d also lose $1.505 million in 2023 with no void years, or $903,000 with void years, and the reason for this is that he’s set to count $4,909,999 in dead money in 2023 due to the restructure this offseason which voids his 2023 contract year from his original 5-year deal.
Finaly, we have Arik Armstead, who is due $3.325 million of his $6.65 million base salary over the final 9 weeks of the season, so they could save $2.264 million no matter what, as he is signed through 2025, with 2025 being a void year, meaning there is enough years to prorate the bonus over 5-years.
Now, the effect of redoing Armstead is, that they would lose $566,000 in 2022-2024, and another $566,000 in 2025, when he is set to count $1.5 million, this is due to the option bonus he was paid this offseason, which was $7.5 million, but had they not paid him that, the $7.5 million would have been added to his $6.65 million base salary, which would have upped his salary cap number up by $6 million, as the $1.5 million proration already was set to count for 2021.
So, if the 49ers decided to claim Beckham, they wouldn’t just need to create the aforementioned $3,039,783 in salary cap room, but they’d need more cap room for the remaining 9 weeks, as we all know there will be injuries, plus practice squad elevations, as I stated above will take up more cap room.
So, if the team were to say do all 4 players, they’d be able to create either $10,339,833 if they don’t add void years to Garoppolo, Tomlinson, & Ford’s contracts or $14.082 million by adding the required void years to Garoppolo, Tomlinson, & Ford’s contracts.
Now, while that’s a good amount of money, again, this money could easily evaporate, with injuries, money needed t payback players’ per game roster bonuses not counting, which right now would be $949,265 if Ward is somehow active this week, or $919,853 if Ward is inactive this week.
Also, there will be money needed for practice squad elevations, plus any other in season roster moves, like players being signed to the active roster.
Also, this would effect 2022, as they could lose either $8,140,l67 if they didn’t add the void years, or $11.481 million if they added the void years, and as I said, the 49ers could be as much as $9,705,098 over the cap in 2022, this is assuming 1. The cap hits the ceiling of $208.2 million, and 2. Deebo Samuel, Charles Omneihu, Dre Greenlaw, & Mitch Wishnowsky all see their base salaries escalate in 2022, so that $9,705,098 overage would go up to either, $17,845,265 with no void years added in the restructures. $21,186,098 with the restructures done with void years.
So, when the team were to release Jimmy Garoppolo, they would either save $15.635 million with them not adding void years, or $19,088,750 with void years added, so the team would then be either $2,210,265 over the cap with no void years added, or $2,097,348 over the cap with void years added, meaning they’d still need to create cap room.
So, under the current terms of Beckham’s deal, I don’t see the 49ers claiming him, if the reports are true that the Browns will redo his deal, which under the CBA, they are allowed to, but Odell needs to agree to the language, then the 49ers could claim him.
If he were to be released with no modification to his deal, I doubt the 49ers or many teams would claim him, if he does redo his deal before being cut, then the 49ers or some team will surely claim him, but the 2022 & 2023 cap numbers of $15 million each season will be a lot for any team to fit, especially the 49ers, if they had to redo anyone.
If they didn’t have to redo anyone, due to the revised deal for Odell, then the 49ers would then be $24,000,098 over the 2022 salary cap, while cutting Garoppolo would save $24.845 million, but that would give the team only $844,902 in cap room, which is nowhere near enough room to sign any free agents, either internally, or outside free agents, plus sign their draft class, meaning they’d need to rework contracts.
I already went over ways the 49ers can create more cap room, check here, for the breakdown.
Honestly, I don’t think the 49ers make a move on Odell, not because he’s not worth it, or a good player, but he costs too much in 2022 & 2023, and it’ll stump the development of Brandon Aiyuk, as he’d likely lose playing time to Odell, plus what would happen with Deebo Samuel?
They can’t afford to pay Odell $15 million for the next 2-years, plus extend the likes of Deebo Samuel, Nick Bosa, & Dre Greenlaw, 3 players who, in my opinion, are higher priorities for the 49ers, instead of adding a wide receiver, who, has had injury issues in the past, plus will likely want a new deal, and, if he doesn’t get the ball enough, will he complain, will his dad do the same to Jimmy Garoppolo or Trey Lance that he did to Baker Mayfield on social media?
Honestly, I’d say no, unless the 49ers get assurances from Beckham, & his agents that nothing will happen that causes issues within the 49ers locker room.
And, 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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