One last look at the 49ers 2022 salary cap situation, & why it’s a bad idea to go All-In in free agency

Now that we’re a mere 4 days away from the beginning of the NFL’s new league year, it’s time for 1 last look at the 49ers current 2022 salary cap situation.

The 49ers announced some re-signings this week, those being, quarterback Nate Sudfeld, running back JaMycal Hasty, center Jake Brendel, left guard Colton McKivitz, defensive tackle Kevin Givens, & strongside linebacker Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles, all to 1-year deals, while they’ve tendered ERFA wide receiver Jauan Jennings, it’s also possible they’re trying to get a long term deal done with Jennings.

The 49ers right now have 52 players signed or tendered, with a cap commitment of $217,618,720, along with $5,167,726 in dead money, for a total cap commitment of $222,786,446, but the top 51 players & dead money is a total of $222,081,446, leaving the 49ers $9,556,885 over their 2022 adjusted cap, so they’ll need to do cap maneuvering, plus they have 3 restricted free agents that haven’t been signed or tendered yet.

Below are the 52 players signed right now, with their 2022 cap number.

1. QB Jimmy Garoppolo(2022) – $26,950,000
2. QB Trey Lance(2024) – $7,751,195
3. QB Nate Sudfeld(2022) – $2,000,000
4. RB Elijah Mitchell(2024) – $870,893
5. RB Trey Sermon(2024) – $1,107,485
6. RB JaMycal Hasty(2022) – $895,000
7. FB Kyle Juszczyk(2025) – $2,958,750
8. FB Josh Hokit(2022) – $705,000
9. WR Deebo Samuel(2022) – $4,890,519
10. WR Brandon Aiyuk(2023) – $3,417,641
11. WR Jauan Jennings(2022) – $825,000
12. WR KeeSean Johnson(2022) – $895,000
13. WR Austin Mack(2022) – $825,000
14. WR Connor Wedington(2022) – $705,000
15. TE George Kittle(2025) – $16,011,765
16. TE Charlie Woerner(2023) – $940,258
17. TE Tanner Hudson(2022) – $895,000
18. TE Jordan Matthews(2022) – $895,000
19. C Alex Mack(2023) – $6,725,000
20. C Jake Brendel(2022) – $895,000
21. LG Colton McKivitz(2022) – $895,000
22. RG Aaron Banks(2024) – $1,607,638
23. RG Keaton Sutherland(2022) – $895,000
24. LT Trent Williams(2026) – $14,031,765
25. LT Jaylon Moore(2024) – $905,759
26. RT Mike McGlinchey(2022) – $10,880,000
27. RT Justin Skule(2022) – $1,009,887
28. RT Alfredo Gutierrez(2022) – $705,000
29. DE Nick Bosa(2022) – $10,805,564
30. DE Samson Ebukam(2022) – $8,250,000
31. DE Charles Omenihu(2022) – $2,540,000
32. DE Dee Ford(2022) – $11,909,997
33. DE Alex Barrett(2022) – $825,000
34. DT Arik Armstead(2024) – $20,000,000
35. DT Javon Kinlaw(2023) – $4,224,191
36. DT Kevin Givens(2022) – $895,000
37. DT Maurice Hurst Jr.(2022) – $895,000 (Estimate)
38. NT Chris Slayton(2022) – $705,000
39. WLB Dre Greenlaw(2022) – $2,620,429
40. WLB Curtis Robinson(2022) – $825,000
41. MLB Fred Warner(2026) – $8,134,588
42. SLB Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles(2022) – $895,000
43. CB Emmanuel Moseley(2022) – $6,555,529
44. CB Ambry Thomas(2024) – $1,087,887
45. CB Deommodore Lenoir(2024) – $896,217
46. CB Ka’dar Hollman(2022) – $895,000
47. FS Jimmie Ward(2022) – $12,935,588
48. FS Tarvarius Moore(2022) – $965,000
49. SS Talanoa Hufanga(2024) – $885,038
50. PK Robbie Gould(2022) – $5,509,313
51. P Mitch Wishnowsky(2022) – $1,156,018
52. LS Taybor Pepper(2022) – $1,120,000

Let’s start with the RFAs, those being, right guard Daniel Brunskill, defensive tackle Kentavius Street, & strongside linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair.

The 49ers will most likely re-sign or attempt to re-sign all 3 to deals worth less than what their tenders would be, with the lowest tenders being $2.433 million for Brunskill, & Al-Shaair, as they were undrafted, and $2.54 million for Street, as he was a draft pick.

The 49ers will probably try to get Brunskill, & Street signed to 1-year deals, worth in the $1.265 million range, while Al-Shaair could get tendered, if so, likely the 2nd-round tender, which is set at $3.986 million, but they’ll likely try to sign him to a multi-year deal, with a low 2022 cap number, in the $1.3 million range.

So, if the 49ers can get these 3 deals done before Wednesday, it would put the 49ers $11,270,218  over the 2022 salary cap, while if they aren’t able to re-sign them, they’ll likely tender Brunskill, & Street at the lowest tenders, and Al-Shaair at the 2nd-round tender, as they likely don’t want to lose Al-Shaair for nothing.

If they do have to tender their RFAs, then they’d end up being $17,754,218 over the their 2022 adjusted cap, so they really need to re-sign these 3 to deals worth much less than what their tenders would be worth.

The 49ers have some options to create cap room, to be cap compliant by the time the new league year begins, and they must have Jimmy Garoppolo still on the roster.

The 49ers could restructure any of the following players.

TE George Kittle, $8.332 million max savings with 1 void year added, $7,811,250 minimum savings with no void year added.

LT Trent Williams, $4.904 million max/minimum savings.

RT Mike McGlinchey, $7.786 million max savings with 4 void years added, $4,922,500 minimum with 1 void year added, leaves $7.786 million in dead money in 2023 with 4 void years, or $4,922,500 in dead money in 2023 with 1 void year.

DE Samson Ebukam, $3.892 million max savings with 4 void years added, $2,432,500 minimum savings with 1 void year added, or $3.892 million in dead money in 2023 with 4 void years, or $2,432,500 in dead money in 2023 with 1 void year.

DT Arik Armstead, $10.424 million max savings with 1 void year added, $9,772,500 minimum with no void year added.

MLB Fred Warner, $1,223,200 max/minimum savings.

CB Emmanuel Moseley, $2.692 max savings with 4 void years added, $1,682,500 minimum savings with 1 void year added, leaves $2.692 million in dead money in 2023 with 4 void years, or $1,682,500 in dead money in 2023 with 1 void year.

FS Jimmie Ward, $6.224 million max savings with 2 void years added to his other 2 void years, $5,186,666 minimum saved without anymore void years added, leaves $6.224 million in dead money in 2023 with the 2 extra void years, or $5,186,666 dead money in 2023 with no extra void years, and not that he already is set to count $6.395 million in dead money in 2023.

Now, these are the only players the 49ers can really gain cap room from, due to the fact that most of the other players signed are 1. Not able to have their deal altered, this is for 2020 & 2021 draft picks, 2. You can’t move money already paid to a player, and 3. Many of the 49ers players have the minimum base salary for their tenure.

Now, the maximum total that the 49ers can save from the 8 players is, $44,477,200, while the minimum is $37,935,116, while they’d lose a max of either $19,028,800 if they did the restructures to get max savings, or $22,054,616 with restructures done to get just the minimum savings, along with the ones with void years.

There’s no way the 49ers touch Ward’s contract, unless it’s to do an extension, due to them losing either $6.224 million, or $5,186,666 in 2023, in addition to the $6.395 million that already counts in 2023.

So, for those who want to go “All-In” with free agency, just think of the salary cap ramifications that it would have, as they’d need to basically restructure all, or most of the 8 players, plus they only have 17 players signed for 2023, without Nick Bosa’s 5th-year option, which will be $17.869 million.

Now, if the 49ers can re-sign their 3 RFAs, then the most likely candidates to be restructured to get under the 2022 salary cap are Arik Armstead, & Trent Williams, which saves a max of $15.328 million, which would give the 49ers $4,057,782 in salary cap room.

Now, if they did the minimum savings for Armstead, & Williams, that would end up being a total of $14,676,500, leaving the 49ers with $3,406,282 in salary cap room.

Now, if the 49ers can’t re-sign their 3 RFAs, they’ll have to redo Arik Armstead, Trent Williams, & George Kittle’s contracts, which saves a max of $23.66 million, leaving the 49ers with $5,905,782 in salary cap room.

Now, if the 49ers did the minimum savings for Armstead, Williams, & Kittle, that’s a total of $22,487,750, leaving the 49ers with $4,733,532 in salary cap room.

Of course, this doesn’t include the savings they’ll get from trading Jimmy Garoppolo, which will be $24.725 million with the player replacing him on the top 51 making $825,000.

That would give the 49ers the following, with the scenarios I discussed earlier.

With RFAs re-signed, max savings, $28,782,782

With RFAs re-signed, minimum savings, $28,131,282

With RFAs tendered, max savings, $30,630,782

With RFAs tendered, minimum savings, $29,458,532

By redoing Armstead, & Williams’ contracts, the 49ers would lose either $3.832 million with max savings, or $4,483,500 with minimum savings in 2023 cap room.

Now, if they restructure just Armstead, & Williams, with the max savings, the remaining 6 players(George Kittle, Mike McGlinchey, Samson Ebukamn, Fred Warner, Emmanuel Moseley, & Jimmie Ward), they’d be able to create a max of $30,149,200 in salary cap room, but they’d lose $23,899,200 in 2023 cap room.

Now, if they restructure Armstead, & Williams, with the minimum savings, and the other 6 players, they can save a max of $23,258,616, but they’d lose $18,051,118 in 2023 cap room.

Now, if they have to redo Armstead, Williams, & Kittle’s contracts due to them having to tender their RFAs, they’d lose $5.915 million in 2023 salary cap room with max savings, while being able to create a max of $21,817,200 in 2022 cap room from the other 5 players.

Now, if they have to redo Armstead, Williams, & Kittle’s contracts, they’d lose $7,357,230 in 2023 salary cap room with minimum savings, while the minimum they can save cap room wise is $15,447,368.

So, as I said earlier, for those wanting to go all-in in free agency, by spending crazy, overpaying, having to restructure deals each year, we’ll end up like the New Orleans Saints, or Green Bay Packers, way over the salary cap, basically mortgaging the future salary cap, meaning they’d be back in cap hell.

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, and you can find me on X/Twitter @49erscap, & on Blue Sky App @49erscap.bsky.social.

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