Breaking Down San Francisco 49ers’ 2016 Salary Cap Situation
The San Francisco 49ers will have the third-most salary cap space entering 2016 NFL free agency. Niner Noise takes a deeper look at what the team’s situation will be this offseason.
The state of the San Francisco 49ers’ salary cap situation is strong.
According to Over the Cap, the 49ers have $52,582,714 to spend in 2016, the third-highest total in the league, trailing only the Jacksonville Jaguars and Oakland Raiders. They also have 63 players under contract on the 90-man roster, meaning that their salary cap space isn’t just a factor of having plenty of free agents or expiring deals; despite nearly $4 million in dead money, the 49ers actually have quite a bit of financial flexibility.
Some of that will be eaten up by draft picks, of course. OverTheCap estimates that $9,514,140 of the cap will be needed to sign the projected 12 draft picks the 49ers have this year. That still leaves more than $43 million in free space to work with, however. Let’s take a deeper look at the cap and see what positions the 49ers could spend more on, who could be cap casualties, and where they could look to add someone in free agency.
One note jumps out before we begin. The 49ers are remarkably low on players in the middle of the NFL’s salary structure—players who count somewhere between $4 million and $7.5 million per year. In fact, the only player on the 49ers’ roster at the moment who fits that description is Antoine Bethea. That’s where I would expect the 49ers to be most active in free agency—adding contributing players for depth, rather than breaking the bank on a few high-priced stars.
A quick terminology note before we continue. A player’s salary is split into a couple of sections:
- “Base salary” is what a player is scheduled to make in 2015 and is generally not guaranteed. That means a player can be cut and that money saved.
- “Prorated bonuses” refer to money received earlier, but spread out over multiple seasons for salary-cap purposes. Normally, this comes in the form of a signing bonus. This money will continue to count against the cap even if the player is cut.
- “Other bonuses” include roster guarantees and workout bonuses. For example, Colin Kaepernick will receive $125,000 per game he’s on the active roster for 2016. That money only becomes guaranteed when the games actually happen, so if he was cut, say, before the third game of the year, the 49ers would save the $1.75 million they otherwise would have had to pay him.
All salary cap numbers from Over the Cap
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