What approach should the 49ers use for 2024’s salary cap situation?

With John Lynch & Kyle Shanahan having their presser this past week, I wanted to go over 2024 a bit, as they said they’ve budgeted for certain things, and want to remain aggressive, well I’m here to show what the 2024 cap looks like, and what they can do to get under the cap.

In 2024, the 49ers have 52 players signed for 2024, with those 52 players counting $269,904,984, plus $1,631,001 in dead money, for a total commitment of $271,535,985, with the 2024 salary cap expected to come in between $256 million to $260 million range, but for this I’m assuming the cap will be the lower amount, $256 million, which would leave them $14,620,985 over the cap.

Now, let’s take a look at the 52 players currently signed, with their salary cap number.

1. WR 19 Deebo Samuel(2025)- $28,572,000
2. LT 71 Trent Williams(2026)- $28,009,777
3. DT 91 Arik Armstead(2024)- $25,628,824
4. MLB 54 Fred Warner(2026)- $24,469,000
5. TE 85 George Kittle(2025)- $19,842,575
6. CB 7 Charvarius Ward(2024)- $17,901,000
7. NT 98 Javon Hargrave(2026)- $15,475,000
8. RB 23 Christian McCaffrey(2025)- $14,144,000
9. WR 11 Brandon Aiyuk(2024)- $14,124,000
10. QB 5 Trey Lance(2024)- $10,851,673
11. WLB 57 Dre Greenlaw(2024)- $9,632,382
12. FB 44 Kyle Juszczyk(2025)- $7,588,750
13. C 64 Jake Brendel(2026)- $4,192,000
14. CB 26 Isaiah Oliver(2024)- $3,866,000
15. P 18 Mitch Wishnowsky(2026)- $2,825,000
16. RT 68 Colton McKivitz(2024)- $2,536,000
17. LG 65 Aaron Banks(2024)- $2,250,694
18. SS 30 George Odum(2024)- $1,625,000
19. DE 95 Drake Jackson(2025)- $1,607,016
20. CB 20 Ambry Thomas(2024)- $1,425,154
21. RB 32 Tyrion Davis-Price(2025)- $1,393,240
22. WR 6 Danny Gray(2025)- $1,375,883
23. LS 46 Taybor Pepper(2025)- $1,300,000
24. FS 27 Ji’Ayir Brown(2026)- $1,226,319
25. PK 4 Jake Moody(2026)- $1,205,473
26. TE 81 Cameron Latu(2026)- $1,205,473
27. RG 74 Spencer Burford(2025)- $1,153,014
28. RT 76 Jaylon Moore(2024)- $1,135,759
29. CB 2 Deommodore Lenoir(2024)- $1,126,217
30. SS 29 Talanoa Hufanga(2024)- $1,115,038
31. RB 25 Elijah Mitchell(2024)- $1,100,893
32. CB 0 Samuel Womack III(2025)- $1,055,831
33. LG 63 Nick Zakelj(2025)- $1,032,590
34. NT 93 Kalia Davis(2025)- $1,018,003
35. QB 13 Brock Purdy(2025)- $1,004,253
36. CB 28 Darrell Luter Jr.(2026)- $993,378
37. RB 24 Jordan Mason(2024)- $988,334
38. DE 33 Robert Beal Jr.(2026)- $976,245
39. SLB 53 Dee Winters(2026)- $948,333
40. TE 9 Brayden Willis(2026)- $934,975
41. WR 10 Ronnie Bell(2026)- $934,446
42. SLB 50 Jalen Graham(2026)- $934,446
43. CB 22 D’Shawn Jamison(2025)- $921,666
44. LG 60 Ilm Manning(2025)- $920,000
45. RG 66 Joey Fisher(2025)- $920,000
46. DE 69 Spencer Waege(2025)- $918,333
47. FB 49 Jack Colletto(2025)- $918,333
48. RB 36 Khalan Laborn(2025)- $918,333
49. C 61 Corey Luciano(2025)- $916,666
50. FS 36 Avery Young(2025)- $916,666
51. RB 35 Ronald Awatt(2025)- $915,666
52. WR 2 Isaiah Winstead(2025)- $915,333

As I’ve gone over, the 49ers have 4 players who should or will see an increase, Elijah Mitchell, Aaron Banks, Deommodore Lenoir, & Talanoa Hufanga, with Hufanga already guaranteed the 2nd-round RFA level increase due to making the Pro Bowl.

The rest need to hit certain percentage of playtime this season to get the original round tender, which is projected to be $3.124 million, which is based off of a $256 million cap, while Hufanga’s increase will see his base salary go up to $4.901 million, which is an extra $9,533,416 in cap commitments.

So, if we add the $9,533,416 to the team already being $14,620,985 over, that would put them $24,154,401 over the projected 2024 salary cap of $256 million, but I liken 2024 to 2022, when the 49ers were over $20 million over the salary cap, so they restructured George Kittle, & Arik Armstead’s deals, and they were able to keep Azeez Al-Shaair for another year on the 2nd-round tender, & they were able to sign Charvarius Ward to a big money deal, so they’ll need to do some cap maneuvering to get under the cap, and this is before Nick Bosa’s extension.

Their options are below, as to how to make salary cap room.

RB Christian McCaffrey – $8,472,000 (Restructure)

FB Kyle Juszcyzk – $3,632,000 (Restructure)

WR Deebo Samuel – $15,877,600 (Restructure)

TE George Kittle – $9,752,000 (Restructure)

LT Trent Williams – $15,072,000 (Restructure)

DT Arik Armstead – $12,960,000 (Extension or Restructure)

NT Javon Hargrave – $6,140,000 (Restructure)

MLB Fred Warner – $11,340,000 (Restructure)

WLB Dre Greenlaw – $5,580,000 (Extension or Restructure)

CB Charvarius Ward – $9,148,000 (Extension or Restructure)

As I’ve stated before, I expect the team to extend Arik Armstead, Dre Greenlaw, & Charvarius Ward, which would save the team $27.688 million, plus I expect them to restructure Deebo Samuel’s deal, which saves the team $15,877,600, for a total savings of $43,565,600, which would put the 49ers $19,411,199 under the 2024 salary cap, but this is before a Nick Bosa extension, which should happen in the next week or two, and I believe will have a 2024 salary cap number of $12 million, putting them $7,411,199 under the projected 2024 cap.

But, they would need to extend Armstead, Greenlaw, and Ward before March 2024, if they chose not to, they could always restructure, in addition to Deebo Samuel, Javon Hargrave, George Kittle, & Trent Williams, saving the team $46,841,600, putting the team $22,687,199 under, before a Nick Bosa extension, and if the cap number is indeed $12 million for 2024, they’d still have $11,482,199 in cap room to spend on free agents, while addressing Armstead, Greenlaw, & Ward’s extensions either down the road in 2024, or wait till 2025, hopefully they don’t wait till 2025, and just do what I expect, and recommend they do by extending them in March 2024, plus redoing Deebo Samuel.

So, either way the 49ers will be just fine when it comes to 2024, but I just wanted to show some different options that the 49ers have when it comes to the 2024 salary cap situation.

Thanks for reading, and 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.

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