The San Francisco 49ers freed up about $5.85 million in salary-cap space by tweaking the contract of safety Jimmie Ward, per Field Yates. The ESPN reporter says the team converted about $7.8 million of the defender's 2021 compensation into a bonus to do so.
Another recently reworked deal to create cap space for in-season management: the 49ers converted about $7.8M of S Jimmie Ward's 2021 compensation into a bonus, resulting in about $5.85M of space. San Francisco is at about $7.3M in space.
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) September 10, 2021
Ward was signed to a three-year, $28.5 million deal last offseason. He is among the 49ers' seven team captains for the 2021 season.
San Francisco drafted Ward (5-11, 193) out of Northern Illinois with the No. 30 overall pick in 2014. He registered 73 tackles, four passes defensed, and two forced fumbles through 14 games with the 49ers last season.
NFL teams had to be under the $182.5 million salary cap by yesterday. Fields notes that San Francisco now has about $7.3 million in cap space, which would mean they were at about $1.45 million before the move. Over The Cap had the team listed with $926,628 of space.