Explaining How Going Young at Guard Will Help the 49ers Retain Key Players

With the 49ers letting left guard Laken Tomlinson walk in free agency, which allowed them to bring in cornerback Charvarius Ward, we know will have a new left guard, most likely 2021 2^nd-round pick Aaron Banks, as well as a new right guard in 2022 4^th-round pick Spencer Burford, and with both on rookie deals, let’s look at how this will help keep their veteran core players around longer.

Both Banks, & Burford are on rookie deals lasting through 2024, & 2025 respectively, which means they won’t cost much against the cap, which will make it easier for the team to bring back players like right tackle Mike McGlinchey, weakside linebacker Dre Greenlaw, strongside linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair, free safety Jimmie Ward, but this isn’t to say they’ll keep all 4 of these players, but it’s feasible with not paying 1 or 2 guards $10 million or more a year, to bring back these players.

Also, by being on rookie deals for the next 3-4 years, the 49ers will be able to pay Nick Bosa, and Brandon Aiyuk to lucrative long term extensions.

So, basically by having 2 guards on rookie deals, they can feasibly keep a good number of their core players for the next 3-4 years or longer, that’s of course if Banks, & Burford play well, as it’s being reported that both have looked good thus far in camp.

To go a bit deeper, instead of paying two guards $10 million or more, they can allocate that kind of money to retaining Dre Greenlaw, & Azeez Al-Shaair for close to $10 million combined per year, or they could retain Jimmie Ward on a deal averaging in the $10 million a year range, or if Mike McGlinchey has a very good year, they could bring him back on a deal averaging between $12 million to $14 million a year, but this is based on him staying healthy, and improving quite a bit in the pass protection department.

As for Bosa, & Aiyuk, there not directly connected to Banks/Burford, as they have salaries that can be reduced in 2023 & 2024, once the 49ers pick up Aiyuk’s 5^th-year option in 2023 for 2024, but it does make it easier to not have so many players on double digit million dollar figures on the roster, meaning the team can still go out, replenish the roster, add youth through the draft, and stay competitive.

As always, thank you for reading, for more salary cap information, & tidbits, please 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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