So yesterday I went over the 49ers 2022 salary cap situation, which you can find by clicking here, but today I want to go over how it’s not really feasible for the 49ers to bring in Aaron Rodgers, or Tom Brady.
So, if the 49ers were to trade for Aaron Rodgers, they’d be on the hook for a $27,490,588 cap number, which consists of a $26,470,588 base salary, $500,000 workout bonus, & a $520,000 LTBE incentive.
Now, as I went over yesterday, the 49ers would, before offloading Jimmy Garoppolo, be either $15,211,061 or $12,526,061 over the 2022 cap.
Now, the above assumes that, in addition to the 40 players already signed for 2022, that the 49ers would end up signing the remainder of their practice squad, tender their 5 ERFAs, and sign/tender their 3 RFAs, now the difference in the amount over is whether or not the 49ers tender Azeez Al-Shaair at the 2nd-round level, or re-sign him to a multi-year deal, in which he’d have a much lower 2022 cap number.
Now, if the 49ers did make a play for Rodgers, while also offloading Garoppolo, they’d actually lose $2,645,588 in cap room, meaning they’d have to do some serious salary cap gymnastics.
Now, with a Rodgers trade, & a Garoppolo trade/release, the 49ers would be either $17,151,649 or $13,065,649 over the cap, depending on whether they tender Al-Shaair, or re-sign him to a multi-year deal, meaning they’d need to do some serious cap gymnastics.
They would need to restructure the contracts of George Kittle, Arik Armstead, & Jimmie Ward, saving the team $24.98 million, which, would give the team either $7,828,351 or $11,779,351 in salary cap room for 2022, with just 59 players signed, but none of their pending Unrestricted Free Agents, or their draft picks added in, which as I said yesterday, the draft picks would cost the team $3,214,968 against the cap, top 51 wise, and $6,739,968 when all salaries count, but since 3 players likely making $895,000 would replace the teams 2nd, 3rd, & 4th round picks, only $529,968 would be needed, which would, temporarily leave them with either $7,298,333 if Al-Shaair is tendered or $11,249,383 if Al-Shaair is given a multi-year deal.
Now, while that may seem like a good amount, you have to realize that this doesn’t include any free agent signings, nor does it take into account the 2022 regular season, when all 53 players, and their practice squaders will count, plus any injured players, so, this is where the total for the draft picks comes into play, which is, as of now, $6,739,968, which leaves the team with just $1,088,383 or $5,039,383 in cap room for the season, and again, with no free agent signings factored in.
Sure, the team can do more cap moves, such as restructure Trent Williams, which saves $4.904 million, or get Samson Ebukam to take a pay cut, which would save $4.865 million, or a pseudo extension for Mike McGlinchey, which saves $7.876 million, but this basically puts the 49ers in the same situation they were in this season, with no one to restructure in case they needed cap room for in season moves, & while you can manipulate the cap, you can only do it if you have players with high enough base salaries to create cap room.
But let’s take a look at what kind of cap room the 49ers would end up losing in 2023, where they have just 17 players signed, with $65,860,801 in projected cap room, when you factor in the top 51 rule, and that doesn’t include the teams draft picks for 2022, or extensions for Deebo Samuel, Dre Greenlaw, Nick Bosa, or any other multi-year deals.
If the 49ers did redo Kittle, Armstead, Ward, Williams, & the McGlinchey pseudo extension, they’d lose $11,838,800 in 2023 salary cap room, which would bring their salary cap room down to $53,977,001, and again, no draft picks, no Deebo Samuel, Nick Bosa, Dre Greenlaw extensions, or any multi-year deals included.
We can take away $20.186 million for Bosa’s 5th-year option, bringing the team’s cap room down to $33,791,001, this also doesn’t include what it would cost to keep Rodgers past 2022, and this is on a projected $225 million salary cap for 2023, it could go up as high as the $238 million range, but it likely won’t explode to that $260 million number until 2024 at the earliest.
So, the idea of bringing in Aaron Rodgers, or a Tom Brady, not that it’s likely, as the Buccaneers hold his rights if he chooses to retire, just isn’t feasible, it’s a terrible idea to restructure every contract, and mortgage the team’s future salary cap, just for a shot at their 6th Lombardi Trophy, when they spent so much to get Trey Lance, who needs to be the starter in 2022, if not, and he’s relegated to the #2 job, then how can the 49ers effectively evaluate whether or not to pick up his 5th-year option in 2024, when he hasn’t seen the field, plus the fact that the option is fully guaranteed the moment you pick it up.
This just seems to be the norm for 49ers fans, whenever they see a big name is, or might be available, they all want to bring him in, it’s happened in the past, fans wanted Khalil Mack in 2018, but had the 49ers gotten him, they wouldn’t have had their 2019 1st, which ended up being Nick Bosa, or how 49ers fans wanted Odell Beckham Jr., Stephon Gilmore, & Julio Jones, despite the fact that the 49ers couldn’t afford to pay those guys what they’d want long term.
As for Brady, yes he has a $8.925 million base salary, plus $1.875 million in LTBE incentives, which comes to just $10.8 million, I highly doubt he’ll play for just that much, he’ll want to paid like he was/is in Tampa Bay, at $25 million a year.
The fact of the matter is, the 49ers need to offload Garoppolo, not bring in a high priced quarterback, as they have a quarterback on a rookie deal, so it’ll help keep their core together for as long as possible, as the likes of left guard Laken Tomlinson, defensive ends Arden Key, & Jordan Willis, nose tackle D.J. Jones, & cornerback K’Waun Williams are key free agents that the 49ers will likely prioritize, plus the fact that they need to extend wide receivers Deebo Samuel, & Brandon Aiyuk, defensive end Nick Bosa, & weakside linebacker Dre Greenlaw, with the first 3 most likely to receive pretty good sized deals.
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.
About Author
