It’s officially 49ers football time, with under 48 hours until the 49ers play the Chicago Bears in Chicago, today, and after yesterday when I went over the 49ers 2022 salary cap situation as it stands, along with some tidbits for 2023, today I figured I’d go deeper into 2023.
First off, the 49ers have a projected $28,701,413 in cap room, but that’s with just 30 players signed, so when they have enough players signed to get to the top 51 rule, they’d have $12,951,413, so any amount will help greatly.
Before I go over what the 49ers can get back in 2023, let’s look at the 30 players signed for 2023, with their cap number.
- LT 71 Trent Williams(2026)- $26,270,000
- DT 91 Arik Armstead(2024)- $24,346,000
- MLB 54 Fred Warner(2026)- $18,525,000
- TE 85 George Kittle(2025)- $18,092,575
- DE 97 Nick Bosa(2023)- $17,869,000
- CB 7 Charvarius Ward(2024)- $16,405,000
- QB 5 Trey Lance(2024)- $9,301,434
- WR 19 Deebo Samuel(2025)- $8,860,000
- FB 44 Kyle Juszcyzk(2025)- $6,588,750
- NT 99 Javon Kinlaw(2023)- $4,928,223
- WR 11 Brandon Aiyuk(2023)- $3,987,248
- MLB 48 Oren Burks(2023)- $2,773,000
- WR/KR/PR 3 Ray-Ray McCloud III(2023)- $2,090,000
- LG 65 Aaron Banks(2024)- $1,929,166
- SS 30 George Odum(2024)- $1,840,000
- DE 95 Drake Jackson(2025)- $1,339,180
- CB 20 Ambry Thomas(2024)- $1,305,232
- RB 32 Tyrion Davis-Price(2025)- $1,161,033
- WR 6 Danny Gray(2025)- $1,146,569
- TE 89 Charlie Woerner(2023)- $1,055,258
- RG 74 Spencer Burford(2025)- $1,038,014
- RT 76 Jaylon Moore(2024)- $1,020,759
- CB 38 Deommodore Lenoir(2024)- $1,011,217
- SS 29 Talanoa Hufanga(2024)- $1,000,038
- RB 25 Elijah Mitchell(2024)- $985,893
- CB 26 Samuel Womack III(2025)- $940,831
- LG/C 63 Nick Zakelj(2025)- $917,590
- NT 93 Kalia Davis(2025)- $903,003
- QB 13 Brock Purdy(2025)- $889,253
- RB 24 Jordan Mason(2024)- $873,333
Next up I want to look at what kind of adjustments/credits the 49ers should get back if everything stays status quo.
The 49ers will get back to following amounts from the veterans that were cut who had guarantees in their base salaries.
QB Nate Sudfeld – $1.035 million, this is guaranteed, as he’s made the Detroit Lions week 1 53-man roster when they cut David Blough.
WR Malik Turner – $300,000, if he sticks with the 49ers on their practice squad.
WR Marcus Johnson – $250,000, if he sticks with the New York Giants on their practice squad.
DE Kemoko Turay – At least $358,200 of the $1 million, up to $471,000 if he plays in 3 games as a practice squad elevation, maybe more if he’s signed to the active roster, or by another team.
CB Dontae Johnson – At least $358,200 of the $560,000, up to $471,000 if he plays in 3 games as a practice squad elevation, maybe the entire $560,000 if he’s signed to the active roster, or by another team.
That’s a total of at least $2,301,400 if everything stays status quo, $2.527 million if Turay & Johnson are elevated 3 times each, or up to a max of $3.095 million if Turay, & Johnson get signed to the 49ers or another teams’ 53-man roster.
Next up are the rookie free agents who were given guarantees in their base salaries when signed.
WR Tay Martin – $45,000
RG Jason Poe – $65,000
SLB Marcelino McCrary-Ball – $100,000
CB Qwuantrezz Knight – $25,000
FS Tayler Hawkins – $50,000
That’s a total of $285,000, if all 5 stay on the 49ers practice squad, or signed to another teams’ 53-man roster, or practice squad.
They can also get back the following, if they sign to the 49ers, or another teams’ practice squad, or 53-man roster.
C Dohnovan West – $100,000
DT Kevin Atkins – $10,000
MLB Jeremiah Gemmel – $70,000
A total of $180,000 in potential adjustments/credits.
Also, I must note that both Leon O’Neal Jr., & Sam Schlueter got guarantees, but because they were waived off of injured reserve with an injury settlement, the 49ers won’t get those back per the CBA.
Finally, when it comes to adjustments/credits, the 49ers should, if Trey Lance plays the majority of the season, they’ll get back the $5.65 million in incentives that count against the cap as LTBEs for Jimmy Garoppolo.
They can also get back $152,500 from Ross Dwelley, and while Deebo Samuel has a $150,000 LTBE for 3+ rush touchdowns, we all expect him to hit that again this year, so the total should be $5,802,500 in incentives that the 49ers should get back, again if everything stays status quo, & Trey Lance is the starter for the entire season, or the majority of it.
With everything included, the 49ers should get back at least $8,388,900, maybe as much as $8,614,500 if Turay & Johnson play in 3 games, and a max of $9,182,500 if Turay, & Johnson get signed to the 49ers, or another teams’ 53-man roster, so a lot of extra cap room.
If we add these numbers to the $12,951,413 that they’d have with 51 players signed, they’d have the following.
Minimum of $21,340,313.
$21,565,913 If Turay/Johnson play 3 games.
Max of $22,133,913.
Any of those 3 amounts would be a great amount for the 49ers to have with the following free agents.
UFA:
RB Jeff Wilson Jr.
TE Ross Dwelley
TE Tyler Kroft
TE Jordan Matthews
C Jake Brendel
C Daniel Brunskill
RT Mike McGlinchey
DE Jordan Willis
DE Samson Ebukam
DE Kerry Hyder Jr.
DE Charles Omenihu
DT Maurice Hurst Jr.
NT Hassan Ridgeway
WLB Dre Greenlaw
SLB Azeez Al-Shaair
CB Emmanuel Moseley
CB Jason Verrett
FS Jimmie Ward
FS Tarvarius Moore
PK Robbie Gould
P Mitch Wishnowsky
LS Taybor Pepper
RFA:
LT Colton McKivitz
DT Kevin Givens
SLB Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles
ERFA:
WR Jauan Jennings
RG Blake Hance
WLB Curtis Robinson
Let’s begin with the UFAs, I think it’s safe to say the 49ers will want to bring back some of the following, right tackle Mike McGlinchey, defensive ends Samson Ebukam, & Charles Omenihu, weakside linebacker Dre Greenlaw, strongside linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair, cornerback Emmanuel Moseley, & free safety Jimmie Ward.
Those 7 players would be their biggest pending free agents as of now.
When we’re talking about the teams’ RFAs, & ERFAs, I’d expect them to bring back all 3 RFAs, & all 3 ERFAs, but it depends on if they want to tender the RFAs, as the projected original round tender/right of first refusal tender for RFAs is expected to be $2.629 million, which is a lot for a 5thlinebacker(Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles), and backup Tackle(Colton McKivitz), but I can see them using it on Kevin Givens, especially if he has a nice season.
As for the ERFAs, all 3 would get the $940,000 tender, which would be a no brainer, especially for Jauan Jennings, but also Blake Hance, & Curtis Robinson, that’s if they stick on the team for the entire season, which isn’t guaranteed.
Of course, we can’t talk 2023 without mentioning Nick Bosa, and his current $17.896 million 5th-year option, which he won’t play on, as the team will get a new deal done next Summer with Nick, likely in the $32 million a year range, and as high as $35 million a year.
As for guarantees, I’d expect Bosa to get $110 million to $115 million, with $85 million to $90 million being fully guaranteed, and it’s possible he takes less fully guaranteed, but he has the same agent as his brother Joey Bosa does, so I’d expect this to be around where they settle on.
With a Bosa extension I’d also expect them to be able to lower his cap number by as much as $5 million, which would be useful going into the 2023 season.
Don’t expect extensions for Brandon Aiyuk, or Javon Kinlaw, as I expect both to have their 5th-year options picked up, and John Lynch has stated that they don’t do extensions with more than 1-year left on the players’ deal.
Now, yes Kinlaw hasn’t proven a lot, but I expect him to play well, and get that 5th-year option picked up for 2024, which shouldn’t be expensive, especially if he plays how we all hope he does.
So there you have it, a much deeper look into the 49ers 2023 salary cap situation, which in my opinion looks good, they’re going to get back a good amount of money from base salary guarantees, & incentives, with the ability to bring back some of their key core players, and sign a free agent or 2 to nice deals.
As always, thank you for reading, you can follow me on twitter @49erscap for more salary cap information & tidbits.
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