Taking a look at the 49ers 2025 salary cap situation with the 2024 season now over

With the 49ers 2024 season over, I think it’s time to take a look at their 2025 salary cap situation, as it stands right now.

First off, the 49ers are projected to be $6,809,797 under a projected 2025 salary cap of $280 million, with 55 players signed, but that’s before any adjustments/credits, or carryover., and is top 51 rule cap room, but with all 55 counting, they’d be $3,449,797 under that projected $280 million cap.

Before I go over what the 49ers can get back in 2025, let’s look at the 55 players signed for 2025, with their salary cap number.

1. QB 13 Brock Purdy(2025)- $1,119,253 (Base Salary will escalate from $1.1 million to whatever the 2^nd-round RFA tender level is, this is due to Brock making last season’s Pro Bowl)
2. QB 4 Tanner Mordecai(2025)- $840,000
3. RB 23 Christian McCaffrey(2027)- $9,423,647
4. RB/KR 31 Isaac Guerendo(2027)- $1,136,132
5. RB 20 Israel Abanikanda(2026)- $1,030,000
6. FB 44 Kyle Juszcyzk(2025)- $6,496,750
7. WR 11 Brandon Aiyuk(2028)- $10,882,176
8. WR 1 Deebo Samuel Sr.(2025)- $15,869,624
9. WR 15 Jauan Jennings(2025)- $4,763,471
10. WR 14 Ricky Pearsall(2027)- $2,849,636
11. WR/PR 19 Jacob Cowing(2027)- $1,092,177
12. WR/PR 81 Trent Taylor(2025)- $1,030,000
13. WR 83 Terique Owens(2025)- $840,000
14. WR 84 Russell Gage(2025)- $1,030,000
15. WR – Isaiah Hodgins(2025)- $1,100,000
16. TE 85 George Kittle(2025)- $22,026,176
17. TE 89 Mason Pline(2025)- $840,000
18. C 64 Jake Brendel(2026)- $3,785,000
19. C 63 Nick Zakelj(2025)- $1,147,590
20. C 61 Matt Hennessy(2025)- $1,245,000
21. C 66 Drake Nugent(2025)- $840,000
22. LG 74 Spencer Burford(2025)- $1,268,014 (Base Salary will escalate from $1.1 million to whatever the Original Round RFA tender level is, this is due to him playing enough snaps to qualify for the increase for his 4^th-year)
23. LG 69 Zack Johnson(2025)- $840,000
24. RG 77 Dominick Puni(2027)- $1,295,579
25. LT 71 Trent Williams(2026)- $21,659,953
26. RT 68 Colton McKivitz(2025)- $5,328,000
27. RT/LT 60 Sebastian Gutierrez(2025)- $1,030,000
28. RT/LT 67 Isaac Alarcón(2025)- $840,000
29. RT/LT – Jalen McKenzie(2025)- $840,000
30. DE 97 Nick Bosa(2028)- $20,430,870
31. DE 56 Leonard Floyd(2025)- $10,108,000
32. DE 94 Yetur Gross-Matos(2025)- $9,473,000
33. DE 51 Robert Beal Jr.(2026)- $1,091,245
34. DE 95 Drake Jackson(2025)- $1,847,852
35. DE 96 Jonathan Garvin(2025)- $1,100,000
36. DE 59 Tarron Jackson(2025)- $1,030,000
37. DT 99 Maliek Collins(2025)- $4,762,000
38. DT 92 Jordan Elliott(2025)- $3,406,176
39. NT 98 Javon Hargrave(2026)- $9,687,353
40. NT 93 Kalia Davis(2025)- $1,133,003
41. WLB 53 Dee Winters(2026)- $1,063,333
42. MLB 54 Fred Warner(2026)- $29,174,000
43. SLB 48 Tatum Bethune(2027)- $980,452
44. CB 2 Deommodore Lenoir(2029)- $5,831,765
45. CB 0 Renardo Green(2027)- $1,452,244
46. CB 28 Darrell Luter Jr.(2026)- $1,108,378
47. CB 36 Tre Avery(2025)- $1,100,000
48. CB 26 Chase Lucas(2025)- $1,030,000
49. FS 27 Ji’Ayir Brown(2026)- $1,471,583
50. FS/SS 30 George Odum(2026)- $3,871,666
51. FS/SS 38 Jaylen Mahoney(2025)- $840,000
52. SS/FS 6 Malik Mustapha(2027)- $1,144,734
53. PK 4 Jake Moody(2026)- $1,446,568
54. P 3 Mitch Wishnowsky(2026)- $3,050,000
55. LS 46 Taybor Pepper(2025)- $1,430,000

Now, let’s look at what the 49ers can get back in 2025.

First up are the veterans.

TE Eric Saubert – Saubert was given $300,000 of his 2024 base salary fully guaranteed, and since he was released after the final cuts, and brought back, the 49ers will get back, at the moment, all of the $300,000.

C Ben Bartch – Bartch was given $302,400 fully guaranteed in his 2024 base salary, but like with Saubert he was released at cut down, and brought back, so the 49ers will, as of now, the 49ers will get back the $302,400.

LT Chris Hubbard – Hubbard was given $300,000 of his 2024 base salary fully guaranteed, but he was released at the final cut down day, but we re-signed to the 49ers practice squad after week 1, but what signed by the Giants to their active roster, so as of now the 49ers will get back all of of the $300,000.

CB Rock Ya-Sin – Ya-Sin got $985,000 0f his 2024 base salary fully guaranteed, and like with Saubert, & Bartch, Ya-Sin was re-signed after cut down day, and because of making the 53-man roster, the 49ers will get back the entire $985,000, as he’s on the 53-man roster for week 18.

That’s a total of $1,887,400 in money that the 49ers will for sure get back.

Next are UDFAs that were given guarantees in their base salaries.

QB Tanner Mordecai – Mordecai received $100,000 fully guaranteed, and as of now the 49ers will get back all of the $100,000, as he’s earned enough.

TE Mason Pline – Pline got $50,000 in fully guaranteed money in his base salary, and has made $225,000, so the 49ers will get back the full $40,000.

C Drake Nugent – Nugent got $175,000 of his base salary fully guaranteed, as of now he’s earned $256,667, so the 49ers will get back all of the $175,000.

NT Evan Anderson – Anderson got $250,000 of his 2024 base salary fully guaranteed, as of now he’s made $636,667, meaning the 49ers will get back the entire $250,000.

FS Jaylen Mahoney – Mahoney got $27,000 of his 2024 base salary fully guaranteed, and as of now he’s earned $320,000, but since he’s made enough, the 49ers will only get back the $27,000.

4 of the above players are on the 49ers’ practice squad, while Anderson is now on the 53-man roster, so they would get back $592,000, for a total of $2,479,400 between veterans & UDFA base salary guarantee paybacks, as of now.

Finally, we have per game roster bonuses that count against the cap that the 49ers will get back.

RB Christian McCaffrey – $352,941 of his $500,000 per game roster bonus.

TE George Kittle – $58,824 of his $500,000 per game roster bonus.

C Jon Feliciano – $500,000 of his $500,000 per game roster bonus.

LT Trent Williams – $220,588 of his $750,000 per game roster bonus.

DE Nick Bosa – $88,235 of his $500,000 per game roster bonus.

DE Yetur Gross-Matos – $30,000 of his $510,000 per game roster bonus.

DT Jordan Elliott – $58,824 of his $500,000 per game roster bonus.

DT Khalil Davis – $26,471 of his $150,000 per game roster bonus.

NT Javon Hargrave – $132,353 of his $750,000 per game roster bonus.

WLB Dre Greenlaw – $411,765 of his $500,000 per game roster bonus.

CB Charvarius Ward – $100,000 of his $340,000 per game roster bonus.

SS George Odum – $20,000 of his $170,000 per game roster bonus.

When we add in the UDFA credits, Veteran credits, & per game roster bonus credits, the 49ers will for sure get back $4,470,576.

Also, the 49ers should be getting back $500,000 from Charvarius Ward’s LTBE incentives, since he’s not likely to make either the Pro Bowl, or be a 1^st or 2^nd team All-Pro, there’s also a possibility that the 49ers get back $150,000 from Deebo Samuel Sr., as he only has 1 rushing touchdown, so he has 1 game left to get to that 3 or more rushing touchdown number to earn the $150,000, he also I don’t expect him to earn any of the additional $500,000 he can earn for getting to 380 or more rushing yards, as he only has 136 rushing yards as of now, but I do expect both Jake Brendel, & Colton McKivitz to earn their LTBE incentives, well Brendel with the full $500,000, & McKivitz with $485,000 of the $620,000, so the 49ers could get an additional $785,000, as for NLTBEs, De’Vondre Campbell Sr. will earn $250,000, so the 49ers will get back  a total of, $5,014,400 in adjustments/credits for 2025.

Now, let’s look at the 49ers pending free agents for 2025.

UFA:

QB Joshua Dobbs
QB Brandon Allen
RB Elijah Mitchell
RB Patrick Taylor Jr.
WR Chris Conley
TE Eric Saubert
C Ben Bartch
LG Aaron Banks
RG Jon Feliciano
LT Jaylon Moore
RT Charlie Heck
DT Kevin Givens
DT Khalil Davis
SLB Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles
WLB Dre Greenlaw
WLB De’Vondre Campbell Sr.
CB Charvarius Ward
CB Isaac Yiadom
CB Rock Ya-Sin
CB Nick McCloud
FS Tashaun Gipson Sr.
SS Talanoa Hufanga
P Pat O’Donnell

RFA:

RB Jordan Mason
MLB Curtis Robinson

ERFA:

TE Jake Tonges
TE Brayden Willis
RT Austen Pleasants
DE Sam Okuayinonu
DE Alex Barrett
NT Evan Anderson
MLB Jalen Graham
SLB DaShaun White

SFA:

RB Ke’Shawn Vaughn
WR Ronnie Bell
NT Nesta Jade Silvera

As of now, the 49ers have $50,625,991 in unused 2024 salary cap room, with teams having to submit their carryover amounts this past Saturday, if the 49er are able to carryover that amount, plus the adjustments/credits I mentioned that they’re guaranteed to get back, the 49ers as of now would be $62,900,188 under a projected 2025 adjusted salary cap of $335,640,391, with the 51 players signed.

The 49ers have some options in 2025 for savings salary cap room, but not many, as they already restructured Deebo Samuel Sr., Jake Brendel, & Maliek Collins’ deals that included adjustments to their 2025 cap numbers, lowering them significantly, while Trent Williams new revised 3-year, $82.66 million lowered his 2025 cap number by over $10 million, & Christian McCaffrey’s extension also lowered his 2025 cap number significantly, but the other options are below.

TE George Kittle – $10.516 million savings ($13.145 million signing bonus, prorated at $2.629 million from 2025-2029) with a Restructure or Extension.

MLB Fred Warner – $13.184 million savings ($16.48 million signing bonus, prorated at $3.296 million from 2025-2029) with a Restructure or Extension.

Of the above players, I’d expect the 49ers to look to extend both Kittle, & Warner, while they would be able to release nose tackle Javon Hargrave with a post June 1^st cut designation, as his 2025 & 2026 base salaries become fully guaranteed on the 2^nd-day of the new league year in March of 2025, while saving $2,312,353, but they wouldn’t see that money until June 2^nd, that’s if Hargrave is healthy, as he redid his deal, saving the 49ers $17.8 million in 2025, while lowering his base salary to just $2.1 million, enough to be protected in case he’s injured, while having dead money hits of $7.355 million in 2025, & $17.485 million in 2026, saving the team $12.37 million in 2026.

As for players who restructured their deals, or signed new deals this offseason, that affected the 2025 salary cap, the 49ers won’t be able to offload Brendel, which losses the team $2.093 million with a pre June 1 cut, and Collins would lose the team $670,000 with a pre June 1 cut.

If the 49ers wanted to offload these players after June 1, they’d save $1.765 million from Brendel, and $3.404 million from Collins, but that would also mean that they’d have significant dead money in 2026, which as of now, Collins does have pending 2026 dead money, while Brendel has dead money pending for 2027, but if cut post June 1 without designation, the savings could go down by $100,000, as he would likely earn his workout bonus.

As for Williams, & McCaffrey, the team would lose $35,163,605 if they cut Williams pre June 1, while only saving $541,176 with a post June 1 cut, as for McCaffrey, they’d lose $23,940,353 with a pre June 1 cut, and only save $117,647 with a post June 1 cut.

The savings for McCaffrey, & Williams would go up by $200,000 for McCaffrey, and $100,000 for Williams if they were to do a post June 1 cut designation, as those players have workout bonuses in their deals, but you’re only able to do 2 post June 1 cut designations once the new league year kicks in, which will be in mid-March.

Another thing to consider is the status of Deebo Samuel Sr., who is due a $15,430,530 option bonus by the 10^th day of the new league year, which is not guaranteed, so they would have to trade him before the 10^th day of the new league year to get out of his contract, but I don’t know what kind of value the 49ers could get for Samuel, as the team who trades for him would need to pay out that option bonus, which prorates over 5-years, and with Samuel having a deal that voids after 2025, the new team would on the hook for $12,344,424 in dead money for 2026, unless the two sides agree to a new extension, which I still believe the 49ers will look to do with Samuel.

Now, if the 49ers were to trade Samuel before his option bonus is due, the 49ers would save nothing, as they’d lose $31,550,012, that with a pre June 1 cut, but with a post June 1 cut, the 49ers would save $5,117,871 in 2025, with dead money hits of $10,751,753 in 2025, & $20,798,259 in 2026, while saving $12,344,424 in 2026, as he’s scheduled to have a dead money hit of $33,142,683 in 2026.

So basically, all but Samuel are, in my eyes, guaranteed to be here in 2025, as team losses cap room on the other 4 players, while only saving a total of $5,727,824 with post June 1 cuts or trades, while losing 3 either great or good players, and a serviceable interior offensive lineman, and would be settled with a ton of dead money in 2026, $24.258 million for McCaffrey, $3.958 million for Brendel, $35,704,781 for Williams, & $4.074 million for Collins, a total of $67,994,781 in 2026 dead money for those 4 players.

Next up, we have the projected RFA tenders for 2025, if the 2025 salary cap does come in at $280 million, which would be a 9.63195% increase over the 2024 salary cap of $255.4 million.

1^st-Round RFA Tender: $7.479 million

2^nd-Round RFA Tender: $5.361 million

Original Round RFA Tender: $3.471 million

Right of First Refusal Tender: $3.273 million

The team has 2 pending RFAs, running back Jordan Mason, & middle linebacker Curtis Robinson, and there’s no way the 49ers don’t at least tender Mason at the 2^nd-round level, as if they don’t, they’d lose him for nothing, as he was a UDFA, as for Robinson, if tendered he’d get the $3.273 million tender, which I highly doubt the team would do, instead I’d expect them to sign him to 1-year, $1.1 million deal.

As for their ERFAs, they have 8 potential players, tight ends Jake Tonges & Brayden Willis, right tackle Austen Pleasants, defensive ends Sam Okuayinonu, & Alex Barrett, nose tackle Evan Anderson, middle linebackers Jalen Graham, & strongside linebacker DaShaun White.

The ERFA tenders would be the following.

TE Jake Tonges – $1,030,000

TE Brayden Willis – $1,030,000

RT Austen Pleasants – $840,000

DE Sam Okuayinonu – $1,030,000

DE Alex Barrett – $1,030,000

NT Evan Anderson – $960,000

MLB Jalen Graham – $1,030,000

SLB DaShaun White – $840,000

That’s a total of $7.79 million in ERFA tenders, plus if Robinson is signed to 1-year, $1.1 million deal, that would be a total of $8.89 million between the eight potential ERFAs, & Robinson, so I’d expect the 49ers to tender all 8 ERFAs, along with Jordan Mason at the 2^nd-round RFA tender, which again would be $5.361 million on a $280 million base salary cap for 2025, a total of $14.251 million between the 10 players, 8 ERFAs, & 2 RFAs.

When we add in these numbers, plus bump up both Purdy & Burford’s base salaries, the 49ers would have 61 players signed for 2025, with $50,587,188 in projected top 51 rule cap room, on a projected adjusted salary cap for 2025 of $335,640,391, and if all 65 players counted, they’d still have $38,277,188 in cap room under that same adjusted salary cap for 2025.

Next, when it comes to quarterback Brock Purdy’s impending extension, which will come in somewhere in the $60 million to $62.5 million a year, on average, definitely a 5-year extension in length, while I’d expect him to get a deal that’s structured similar to Trevor Lawrence’s deal, where Lawrence has cap hits of $15,029,725 in 2024, $17 million in 2025, & $24 million in 2026, so expect Purdy to have similar cap numbers for the first 3 years of the deal, only instead of from 2024-2026, like with Lawrence, it’d go from 2025-2027 for Purdy.

As for some sort of contract breakdown, guaranteed money wise, I’d expect somewhere in the $235 million range, in total guaranteed, with somewhere in the $60 million to $70 million signing bonus, with a minimum base salary of $1.1 million in 2025, $1.215 million in 2026, & $1.26 million in 2027, with yearly per game roster bonuses in the $750,000 range, and yearly $100,000 workout bonuses, which wouldn’t start until 2026, for both the per game roster bonuses, & workout bonuses, along with 2 option bonuses, say $25 million in 2026, & $20 million in 2027, with those option bonuses being fully guaranteed, and I’d expect his base salaries for 2024-2027, & per game roster bonuses & workout bonuses for 2025 & 2026 to also be fully guaranteed, which would add up to between $110.275 million to $120.275 million fully guaranteed of his total guaranteed money.

I expect the 49ers to also fully guarantee part of Purdy’s 2028 base salary, to get his fully guaranteed money up into the $135 million range out of the $235 million in total guaranteed money, while I expect the 49ers to do something similar to what the Jaguars did with Trevor Lawrence’s new deal, having more than 2 option bonuses, which would become fully guaranteed on April 1^st of the previous year that the option bonus would be due.

So, Purdy’s cap numbers from 2025-2027 would be $13.1 million with a $60 million signing bonus, or $15.1 million with a $70 million signing bonus for 2025, $19.065 million with a $60 million signing bonus, or $21.065 million with a $70 million signing bonus for 2026, and $23.11 million with a $60 million signing bonus, or $25.11 million with a $70 million signing bonus for 2027, while the remaining years would come in much higher, as do all veteran extensions that the 49ers end up giving out.

So, of the projected $50.587 million in top 51 rule cap room, you’d add in the difference between what Purdy’s new base salary will be once the new cap is set, which could come in at $280 million, so a difference of $4.261 million, that would give the 49ers $54.848 million in theoretical cap room, but when the 49ers extend Purdy, which they should do ASAP, they would still have in the $38.988 million to $40.988 million range in salary cap room for 2025, which is still enough for the team to retain 2 or even 3 of their 4 big free agents, left guard Aaron Banks, weakside linebacker Dre Greenlaw, cornerback Charvarius Ward, & strong safety Talanoa Hufanga, while spending the rest on replenishing the roster with new veterans on cheap 1-2 years deals.

Below is what the 49ers cap sheet would look like with the 65 players signed.

Next up is a breakdown of their salary cap payroll.

Remember that this is a projection right now as far as what the 2025 cap will come in at, plus the 49ers carryover, & adjustments/credits will be.

When it comes to the 49ers 2025 NFL Draft, they really should look at adding help at tight end, center, right tackle, defensive end, defensive tackle, & cornerback, that’s if the 49ers do re-sign Greenlaw, & Hufanga, which would make linebacker, & safety not a top priority.

Now, below are the 49ers current projected 2025 draft picks for the 2025 NFL Draft, as of the end of week 18, according to OverTheCap.com.

Due to the top 51 rule, the 49ers 1^st 5 picks would count against the top 51 rule, with the remaining 5 picks prorated bonuses would also count, but not their entire cap figures, so the 49ers would need $9,194,540 in 2025 top 51 salary cap room to sign their current 10 projected draft picks, but it would actually go down by $5.15 million, as the top 5 picks would replace the bottom 5 players on the top 51, which would be Chase Lucas, Sam Okuayinonu, Brayden Willis, Jake Tonges, & Jalen Graham, all making $1.03 million in base salaries.

Thus, the 49ers would only need $4,044,540 in top 51 rule cap room to sign all 10 2025 draft picks that they currently are scheduled to have.

If I was the 49ers general manager, I would sign Brock Purdy to the deal I mentioned earlier, with either a $60 million signing bonus, the 49ers salary cap room would go down by $8.839 million, or $10.839 million with a $70 million signing bonus, leaving the 49ers with between $38.988 million to $40.988 million in top 51 rule cap room, or $28.538 million to $30.538 million with all 61 players signed.

So even with roughly between $38.848 million to $40.848 million in top 51 rule cap room, the 49ers would still be able to bring back several of their own free agents, most likely one of their quarterbacks Brandon Allen, & Joshua Dobbs, running back Patrick Taylor Jr., wide receiver Chris Conley, tight end Eric Saubert, center/left guard Ben Bartch, left tackle/right tackle Jaylon Moore, potentially cornerbacks Isaac Yiadom, Rock Ya-Sin, & Nick McCloud, & free safety Tashaun Gipson Sr. on cheap 1-2 year deals, while guys like running back Elijah Mitchell, left tackle/right tackle Charlie Heck, defensive tackle Khalil Davis, weakside linebacker De’Vondre Campbell Sr., strongside linebacker Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles, & punter Pat O’Donnell would be let to walk/test free agency.

When it comes to their more highly desired UFAs, the ones who will get the most potential multi-year deals would be, left guard Aaron Banks, defensive tackle Kevin Givens, weakside linebacker Dre Greenlaw, cornerback Charvarius Ward, & strong safety Talanoa Hufanga, with the most likely players to be brought back being Greenlaw, Givens, & Hufanga in my opinion, and I doubt the 49ers will go over $20 million a year on Ward, or go over $10 million on Banks.

As for center/right guard Jon Feliciano, I’d expect the 49ers to just let him walk or retire, as his knee never recovered like both the 49ers & Feliciano thought it would, so I doubt he’s in the 49ers future plans.

The team should also be able to be active in free agency, they may not go after a top tier free agent, especially with how the last one hasn’t worked out the way they wanted, that being nose tackle/defensive tackle Javon Hargrave, but they could look into some positions, especially interior offensive lineman if Aaron Banks leaves, linebacker if Dre Greenlaw leaves, cornerback if Charvarius Ward leave, and safety if Talanoa Hufanga leaves.

I would though hold onto nose tackle/defensive tackle Javon Hargrave until after June 1^st, to see how he’s doing, since the team would have to carry his cap number until June 2^nd anyway, if they were to designate him a post June 1 cut, this way they can evaluate him, their roster, but the only downside is the 49ers lose a roster spot, since Hargrave would still be on the 90-man roster, while if designated a post June 1 cut, he wouldn’t count, but that’s what I’d do, as I’d like to see how he looks, if healthy, during mini camps, & OTAs.

As of now, the 49ers would owe out the following to players who had per game roster bonuses counting against the cap, but weren’t achieved, hence the team needs to payback the players.

RB Christian McCaffrey – $382,353

WR Brandon Aiyuk – $441,176

WR Deebo Samuel Sr. – $44,118

WR Jauan Jennings – $73,529

TE George Kittle – $58,824

LT Trent Williams – $308,824

DE Nick Bosa – $88,235

DE Yetur Gross-Matos – $180,000

DT Jordan Elliott – $58,824

NT Javon Hargrave – $617,647

CB Deommodore Lenoir – $88,235

FS George Odum – $50,000

That’s a total of $2,249,412 needed in 2025, as of now, to payback 12 players currently under contract for next season.

And there you guys go, my first of many looks at the 49ers 2025 salary cap situation, as of today, as always, thank you for reading, you can follow me on X/Twitter @49erscap & on Blue Sky App @49erscap.bsky.social for more salary cap information & tidbits.

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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