San Francisco 49ers will not cut tight end Vance McDonald
By Chris Wilson
McDonald’s Contract
Near the end of the 2016 season, the San Francisco 49ers signed McDonald to a five-year contract extension.
McDonald’s new contract included a $7 million signing bonus and a $2.1 million guaranteed base salary in 2017, for a total of $9.1 million guaranteed.
If the 49ers cut McDonald, they owe him the remainder of the $9.1 million, even though he hasn’t played a down of football under his new contract.
The 49ers shouldn’t make bad business decisions just because they have excess cap space. The team’s reluctance to spend over recent years can be an asset for the new regime; why waste this advantage by spending money on a player who’s playing for another team?
49ers fans — and some in the media — also tend to forget that this $9.1 million is real money. This is money that will be coming out of the York family checkbook — a checkbook that stays as closed as the NFL’s Collective Bargaining Agreement allows.
If the 49ers choose to part ways with McDonald, a trade is a much more reasonable outcome; the Niners would receive value in return — as opposed to merely discarding McDonald, and paying $9.1 million to do so.
By comparison, the 49ers owe tight end Garrett Celek $1.9 million if he is cut. The Niners owe Blake Bell $250,000, and Logan Paulsen $125,000.
Money matters.