Nick Bosa's salary-cap number will likely go down once the San Francisco 49ers pass rusher signs his contract extension—whenever that happens. That will create some breathing room for the team in 2023. But what about after that, when big bucks will be committed to other key players?
A reader recently asked Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer which 49ers players might be future cap casualties once deals are handed out to Bosa and wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk. A few names came to mind.
Breer notes that the following nine players are set to account for nearly $190 million against the 2024 salary cap. Cap hit numbers are from Spotrac.com.
- Deebo Samuel: $28,572,000
- Trent Williams: $28,010,000
- Arik Armstead: $25,866,000
- Fred Warner: $24,469,000
- George Kittle: $19,842,575
- Charvarius Ward: $17,901,000
- Javon Hargrave: $15,535,000
- Christian McCaffrey: $14,144,000
- Brandon Aiyuk: $14,124,000
Assuming he is with the team, quarterback Trey Lance will be in his fourth season and add a fully guaranteed $10.9 million to that number. Linebacker Dre Greenlaw will have a $9.6 million cap hit.
"A Lance trade, if he has a strong preseason [this year], could create some breathing room," Breer wrote. "Having both Warner and Greenlaw as off-ball linebackers could be seen as a luxury, so maybe Greenlaw is another guy that could be offloaded. And if McCaffrey shows his age, or gets hurt again, it's possible he'd be on the chopping block."
Fullback Kyle Juszczyk is set to count $7.6 million against the cap in each of the 2024 and 2025 seasons.
The 49ers could certainly get creative, as they have done in the past, extending certain players and pushing their salary cap hits into future seasons. However, even with a rising salary cap from year to year, you can only do so much of that before it catches up to you.