Showing how the 49ers can keep WR Brandon Aiyuk, in addition to Deebo Samuel, Nick Bosa, & other players

With the emergence of both Deebo Samuel, & Brandon Aiyuk, some may ask, can the 49ers keep both long term? Well, I’ll answer that question in this article, along with taking a look at the 49ers 2023 salary cap outlook.

We all know that the 49ers will extend both Deebo Samuel, & Nick Bosa this offseason, as they’ve said that they’ve budgeted for both players.

Deebo will most likely get north of $20 million a year, while Bosa will get north of $30 million a year, but some may say that the 49ers won’t be able to retain free agents like Laken Tomlinson, Arden Key, Jordan Willis, D.J. Jones, & K’Waun Williams due to the tight salary cap, plus the pending extensions as I said for Deebo & Bosa, along with extending Brandon Aiyuk when he becomes eligible after the 2022 season.

As I’ve been saying for the longest time, what I would do to extend Deebo, & Nick, is to turn Deebo’s $3.936 million base salary into a signing bonus by lowering it down to minimum of $965,000, which wouldn’t increase his cap number by that much.

As for Bosa, I’d take his $4,305,225 training camp roster bonus, turn that into a signing bonus, so Bosa’s 2022 cap number would either stay the same, or go up a little bit.

As for a potential deal for Aiyuk, if he has another year like he did this season, I’d expect the 49ers to give Aiyuk north of $18 million a year, with them using some 2023 cap room, while also lowering his base salary to the league minimum.

With the 2022 salary cap set to be $208.2 million, & the 49ers moving on from Jimmy Garoppolo, which will save the team $24.725 million, when you factor in the top 51 rule, while they’ll net a little over $12.26 million, this assumes that the 49ers tender their 5 ERFAs(JaMycal Hasty, Jauan Jennings, Colton McKivitz, Kevin Givens, & Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles), & bring back their 3 RFAs(Daniel Brunskill, Kentavius Street, & Azeez Al-Shaair) on deals that are in the $1.3 million each, with Al-Shaair’s being a multi-year deal.

So, by moving on from Garoppolo, while they only net that $12.26 million, the fact that the 49ers have a quarterback on a rookie deal, and the salary cap expected to rise each year, especially by 2024, as the new NFL TV deals kick in for the 2023 season.

The 49ers can also create cap room by releasing or getting Samson Ebukam to take a pay cut, & by restructuring the likes of George Kittle, Arik Armstead, Mike McGlinchey, & Jimmie Ward’s contracts, with Ward being a potential extension candidate, as his contract voids after the 2022 season, leaving $6.395 million in dead money for 2023.

Now I want to take a look at 2023’s salary cap, which is projected to be between $225 million to $238 million, with just 17 players signed for 2023, before any 2021 draft picks, re-signings, or extensions, they have an estimated $65,860,801 in cap room, but that includes enough players making the rookie minimum of $750,000 in 2023 for when the top 51 kicks in.

When looking at the 2023 salary cap, the only real potential cap casualty could be Alex Mack, that’s if the 49ers find a suitable replacement, if his play starts to fall off, or he decided to retire, which would save the team $3.1 million after factoring in a player making $750,000 takes his place on the top 51.

As far as who’s not signed for 2023, or the key pending 2023 free agents, they are as follows.

Note, I’m not going to include Deebo Samuel, as he’s a lock to be extended in my opinion.

UFA:

RT Mike McGlinchey
DE Samson Ebukam
DE Charles Omenihu
WLB Dre Greenlaw
CB Emmanuel Moseley
FS Jimmie Ward

Those 6 players are the only key players not signed for 2023, that are under contract for the 2022 season, while I didn’t include the following, as they’re either ERFAs or RFAs in 2023, meaning they’ll be back.

RFA:

RB JaMycal Hasty
LG Colton McKivitz
DT Kevin Givens
SLB Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles

ERFA:

WR Jauan Jennings

Also, a note on Jauan Jennings, is the fact that he won’t be a unrestricted free agent until the 2025, as he’ll be a restricted free agent in 2024, which pretty much makes him under team control through the 2024 season.

So, when I look at the 2023 offseason, as it stands now, I only see 2, maybe 3, must re-signs, those being Dre Greenlaw, & Jimmie Ward, while the other potential is Emmanuel Moseley, but a lot will depend on how the 2022 season plays out, especially for Samson Ebukam, if he’s still on the roster, Mike McGlinchey, & Charles Omenihu.

Two more reasons as to why the 49ers can retain Deebo Samuel, Nick Bosa, & Brandon Aiyuk, along with George Kittle, Trent Williams, Arik Armstead, & Fred Warner all on big money contracts, is the fact that the 49ers don’t have 1st-round picks in the next 2 drafts, which will help long term, and the fact that they don’t have many must re-sign pending free agents over the next 2 or so years.

Of course, not every player can come back, or be retained, or may even want to re-sign with the 49ers, but the team has a solid set of core players, as well as a lot of young talent, which will help them stay competitive for a long time.

So by 2023, the 49ers key core of players will, in my opinion, be quarterback Trey Lance, running backs Elijah Mitchell, & Trey Sermon, fullback Kyle Juszczyk, wide receivers Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk, & Jauan Jennings, tight ends George Kittle, & Charlie Woerner, left guards Laken Tomlinson, & Colton McKivitz, right guard Aaron Banks, left tackle Trent Williams, right tackle Jaylon Moore, defensive ends Nick Bosa, Arden Key, Jordan Willis, defensive tackles Arik Armstead, Javon Kinlaw, & Kevin Givens, nose tackle D.J. Jones, weakside linebacker Dre Greenlaw, middle linebacker Fred Warner, strongside linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair, cornerbacks Emmanuel Moseley, Ambry Thomas, K’Waun Williams, & Deommodore Lenoir, free safety Jimmie Ward, & strong safety Talanoa Hufanga, plus whoever they draft in the 2022, & 2023 drafts, so this team should be loaded for the foreseeable future.

Now the players who are up in the air are center Alex Mack, right tackle Mike McGlinchey, & defensive ends Samson Ebukam, & Charles Omenihu.

I believe, as many 49er fans do, that the 49ers got a steal when they sent a 2023 6th-round pick to the Houston Texans to acquire Omenihu, as he has a lot of upside, but the team will need to add some young EDGE rushers to the team by 2023, especially a speedy EDGE to go opposite Nick Bosa.

So, in conclusion, the answer is YES, the 49ers can afford to retain the likes of Laken Tomlinson, Arden Key, Jordan Willis, D.J. Jones, & K’Waun Williams on new multi-year deals, along with extending Nick Bosa, Deebo Samuel, & Brandon Aiyuk, while also having George Kittle, Trent Williams, Arik Armstead, & Fred Warner on big money contracts.

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

Jason Hurley

Die Hard 49ers fan from New York, been covering the 49ers salary cap since 2005, with several different websites, including NinersNation.com, & the now defunct NinerCapHell, I have a track record of being as accurate as possible, & I try to be as thorough as possible.

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