John Lynch explains why 49ers created NFL-leading $41M in cap space

The 49ers have six players who rank among the NFL's top-three paid at their positions. They have nine players whose annual pay falls from $34 million to $13.5 million. It is a team with a lot of highly paid star power, for sure. And after a round of recent contract adjustments to move some money around, the 49ers also have the most salary-cap space of any team in the NFL. And it's not even close. The 49ers are currently $41.2 million under the league's $224.8 million salary cap, according to NFL Players Association figures. The Cleveland Browns are next with $34 million in cap space, followed by the Arizona Cardinals with a $14 million cap cushion. General manager John Lynch told NBC Sports Bay Area the idea with the recent restructured contracts of Arik Armstead, Trent Williams and George Kittle is to set the 49ers up for the future. "Really, we always look at the cap for three years out," he said. "Obviously, we have all that room this year. But really it's to create room for future years because we roll everything over. It helps us in future years because it creates some room we're going to need." All unused cap space from one season rolls over to the next season. The 49ers...