Will we be able to afford & keep our D-line intact?

Originally posted by SanDiego49er:

Originally posted by GoldBrick:
I don't see how we keep AA. Dude is 26. He's gonna get a monster deal.

We can keep him for 1 year on the franchise tag. After that it gets very cost prohibitive if you do it again or give him a long term deal. But it's totally doable for 1 year at least on the franchise tag. And I think they will probably do that. Some other team has to give us 2 first round picks in exchange for him if they want him. That's a fair exchange IMO. We would keep him. Nobody would give that up.

Franchise tag is $17 million. Cost Prohibitive when we have other players to resign and holes to fill in F/A with our lack of draft picks. One thing we do have however is depth along the DL, especially the big end position.

Originally posted by jcs:

Franchise tag is $17 million. Cost Prohibitive

There's no point in fretting about capspace when we have no clue what the new CBA is even going to look like but its safe to assume that the cap will be going up, not down, especially when they are discussing having a separate cap designation for QBs vs other positions. Contracts signed now, right before the new CBA could very well look like huge bargains when the new cap blows up because the owners want that 17th game badly. I trust that Marathe will have a reasonable grasp of what the current CBA negotiations look like and will also give the 49ers an easy out if needed.

One thing we do have however is depth along the DL, especially the big end position.

There isn't a single guy that adequately replaces what Armstead gives you. Not by a country mile.


DJ Jones has developed into a good NT but he's not giving you the inside/outside versatility of Armstead. Thomas is Thomas. He's a good dude but this is his third year and he hasn't flashed anything close to Armstead in his third season. He likely walks after next season or gets traded.


The rest are either replacement level or wholly unproven.


Also the lack of draft picks is easily addressed by trading down, especially considering how deep this draft is going to be at several positions.


You pay Armstead, keep the strength of your team together and find other places to cut salary. You fill in the roster with cheap draft picks to develop.

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:

Originally posted by jcs:
Franchise tag is $17 million. Cost Prohibitive

There's no point in fretting about capspace when we have no clue what the new CBA is even going to look like but its safe to assume that the cap will be going up, not down, especially when they are discussing having a separate cap designation for QBs vs other positions. Contracts signed now, right before the new CBA could very well look like huge bargains when the new cap blows up because the owners want that 17th game badly. I trust that Marathe will have a reasonable grasp of what the current CBA negotiations look like and will also give the 49ers an easy out if needed.

One thing we do have however is depth along the DL, especially the big end position.

There isn't a single guy that adequately replaces what Armstead gives you. Not by a country mile.

DJ Jones has developed into a good NT but he's not giving you the inside/outside versatility of Armstead. Thomas is Thomas. He's a good dude but this is his third year and he hasn't flashed anything close to Armstead in his third season. He likely walks after next season or gets traded.

The rest are either replacement level or wholly unproven.

Also the lack of draft picks is easily addressed by trading down, especially considering how deep this draft is going to be at several positions.

You pay Armstead, keep the strength of your team together and find other places to cut salary. You fill in the roster with cheap draft picks to develop.

Got to keep AA - hopefully, he gives us a home town discount, otherwise franchise him.

Originally posted by jcs:

Originally posted by SanDiego49er:

Originally posted by GoldBrick:

I don't see how we keep AA. Dude is 26. He's gonna get a monster deal.

We can keep him for 1 year on the franchise tag. After that it gets very cost prohibitive if you do it again or give him a long term deal. But it's totally doable for 1 year at least on the franchise tag. And I think they will probably do that. Some other team has to give us 2 first round picks in exchange for him if they want him. That's a fair exchange IMO. We would keep him. Nobody would give that up.

Franchise tag is $17 million. Cost Prohibitive when we have other players to resign and holes to fill in F/A with our lack of draft picks. One thing we do have however is depth along the DL, especially the big end position.

It's not that big of a deal to do it for 1 year. Then it drops off after that. We are not permanently upping our cap to that degree. Just for 1 year when other guys contracts are not due.

No, we can't pay everyone... AA is odd man out unless he takes a discount

No guarantee Armstead will sign the franchise tag. Let's say his agent is told by some team(s) will sign him for 5 year/80 mil contract, 45 mil guaranteed. If I'm Armstead, I'm not signing the franchise tag.

Originally posted by riverrunzthruit:

No, we can't pay everyone... AA is odd man out unless he takes a discount

Long term? Absolutely. In the short term there isn't any reason why they can't keep this main core together for another couple of years.

Where's AB - we can use his expertise.

Originally posted by Lott94:
No guarantee Armstead will sign the franchise tag. Let's say his agent is told by some team(s) will sign him for 5 year/80 mil contract, 45 mil guaranteed. If I'm Armstead, I'm not signing the franchise tag.

The 49ers could "transition" tag him giving the team the right to match any deal. But a team with a butt load of cap space in 2020 could front load the hell out of an offer and make it impossible. The best shot is to work like hell to extend him before FA starts to deal with a respectable yearly average but team friendly cap number for 2020. If he hits the market he's probably a goner.

Originally posted by SonocoNinerFan:

Originally posted by Lott94:
No guarantee Armstead will sign the franchise tag. Let's say his agent is told by some team(s) will sign him for 5 year/80 mil contract, 45 mil guaranteed. If I'm Armstead, I'm not signing the franchise tag.

The 49ers could "transition" tag him giving the team the right to match any deal. But a team with a butt load of cap space in 2020 could front load the hell out of an offer and make it impossible. The best shot is to work like hell to extend him before FA starts to deal with a respectable yearly average but team friendly cap number for 2020. If he hits the market he's probably a goner.

Good post, I agree - got to lock him up before FA starts. Pay him fair market and I think he's back.

Originally posted by SonocoNinerFan:

The 49ers could "transition" tag him giving the team the right to match any deal. But a team with a butt load of cap space in 2020 could front load the hell out of an offer and make it impossible. The best shot is to work like hell to extend him before FA starts to deal with a respectable yearly average but team friendly cap number for 2020. If he hits the market he's probably a goner.

If I'm his agent, it better be more than respectable lol
If he does well tomorrow and the Sup...... not going to jinx it, he's going to hear rumors of a potentially large deal from a team. DT/DE 6'7 290 with more room for improvement don't come around often

Iirc Arik has the most sacks of all 49er lineman.

Originally posted by mayo49:
Got to keep AA - hopefully, he gives us a home town discount, otherwise franchise him.

I *hope* we can keep him, but also I *hope* ShanaLYnch is able to grab the opportunity if somebody offers two number 1 picks for him (if we somehow do some sort of franchise tag shenanigans) That stuff is too complicated for me. I'm waiting for AB81 to weigh in on the matter. Personally, I hope we use that 32nd pick (hope hope) in the 2020 draft on another DLineman - preferably an edge rusher. To develop behind Solomon and the rest of the first round DLinemen.

Originally posted by TonyStarks:

Iirc Arik has the most sacks of all 49er lineman.

Thats because of two things.

1) Everyone worried about Bosa and Ford when hes healthy;

2) We are giving him lots of mismatches lining him up against guards.

We are the only team where Armstead finds 1) and 2).

We are the only team where we scheme 6"8" dts to line up against guards and centers.

If he goes anywhere else hell turn back into a pumpkin.

Originally posted by Giedi:

Originally posted by mayo49:

Got to keep AA - hopefully, he gives us a home town discount, otherwise franchise him.

I *hope* we can keep him, but also I *hope* ShanaLYnch is able to grab the opportunity if somebody offers two number 1 picks for him (if we somehow do some sort of franchise tag shenanigans) That stuff is too complicated for me. I'm waiting for AB81 to weigh in on the matter. Personally, I hope we use that 32nd pick (hope hope) in the 2020 draft on another DLineman - preferably an edge rusher. To develop behind Solomon and the rest of the first round DLinemen.

AB81 got parking lot bullied out of here by some useless dbags.


It happened. It happened and we let it happen.