Looking at what the 49ers salary cap could look like if Jimmy Garoppolo is kept for 2022

Earlier today I released my updated projected roster for 2022, which can be found here, but it didn’t include quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, so let’s take a look at what the salary cap would look like if the 49ers actually do keep Garoppolo.

Under my projection, the 49ers would have a cap commitment of $180,657,069, with $14,631,528 in dead money, for a total cap commitment of $195,068,598, leaving the 49ers $18,083,897 under their 2022 adjusted salary cap.

So, if the 49ers decided to keep Garoppolo, it would likely bump Nick Zakelj down to the practice squad, giving the 49ers a cap commitment of $206,856,146, plus $12,879,118 in dead money, for a total cap commitment of $219,735,264, leaving the 49ers $6,361,103 over their 2022 adjusted cap.

So this means that the 49ers would need to restructure the contracts of both Trent Williams($4.904 million saved), & Fred Warner($1,223,200), for a total savings of $6,127,200, which is still $233,903 shy of needing to at least be at their adjusted cap.

The reason I’m even talking about this is due to the media members saying that the 49ers should, or will keep Garoppolo on the roster, and it’s just not feasible, as you’d need to then redo Jimmie Ward’s deal, saving $6.224 million, giving the 49ers $5,990,097 in cap room for the season, with no one else that they can legitimately get cap relief from, unless they decided to do a pseudo-extension for Mike McGlinchey, which would leave dead money in 2023, same as Ward’s would, and the 49ers can’t afford that.

While the 49ers needed to kick the can down the road so to speak, and yes I think it’s smart to hold onto Garoppolo, for now, they had to do the 3 restructures to just get under the salary cap, because even if the 49ers had a trade in place for Garoppolo, he had to be on the roster come 4pm eastern/1pm pacific back on March 15^th.

So, I don’t see how the 49ers, or why the 49ers would keep Garoppolo at his current salary, now if he’s willing to take a pay cut, then that would be a different story, but not at his $26.95 million cap number.

And as always, thanks for reading, leave a comment, or follow me on Twitter @49erscap.

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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