“Clerical payroll error” costs 49ers a 2025 fifth-round pick, reduced 2024 fourth-round pick

The 49ers made a mistake last year when calculating total player payroll. And they're going to pay for it.Via Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area, the 49ers will lose a 2025 fifth-round pick and have a reduced 2024 fourth-round pick, due to "payroll accounting errors at the close of 2022 [that] resulted in a misreporting of the club's cumulative player compensation."The team's fourth-round pick, previously No. 131, will shift until the completion of the round, after the fourth-round compensatory selections are made. The 49ers will now pick at No. 135 in round four.The league concluded that the 49ers remained under the salary cap at all times, and that there was no ill intent."We take responsibility and accept the imposed discipline from the NFL due to a clerical payroll error," the 49ers said in a statement. "At no time did we mislead or otherwise deceive the League or gain a competitive advantage in connection with the payroll mistake."It's a hell of a punishment for "no ill intent." But the rules of the salary cap and player compensation are clear. Any miscalculation results in punishment, since any team that does it on purpose could later claim it was a mistake and avoid...