Niner Noise takes a look at the San Francisco 49ers roster heading into 2018 and breaks down the five players who are likely deserving of contract extensions this season.
The San Francisco 49ers currently boast the third most amount of cap space in the NFL heading into 2018 — $45,013,807, per Over the Cap.
This, despite dishing out some pretty lucrative contracts this offseason, namely to quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, running back Jerick McKinnon and center Weston Richburg.
And while many fans were hoping general manager John Lynch would have used more of that cap space to land big-name free agents this offseason, one of the bonuses behind the relative lack of action is the ability to offer extensions to on-roster players.
Case in point, the Niners inked offensive guard Laken Tomlinson to a three-year extension in June.
Tomlinson was just one of a number of players potentially due for a new contract. Armed with a roster on the younger side of things, Lynch and Co. would be wise to start thinking about new deals for other players this upcoming season. The sizable cap space, combined with the cap mastery of chief contract negotiator Paraag Marathe, getting ahead of the curve on some of these deals would do some good.
As such, here are five players San Francisco should consider extending this season.
All cap figures courtesy of Over the Cap.
No. 5: Punter Bradley Pinion
2019 Unrestricted Free Agent
Veteran punter Bradley Pinion might have been one of the many scapegoats for the multiple mistakes from former general manager Trent Baalke (Pinion was the first specialist selected in the 2015 NFL Draft), and Pinion sure had his share of struggles and inconsistency his rookie season.
Yet those woes have largely eroded since. True, Pinion averaged just 43.4 yards per punt last year, which ranked 29th in the league. But one has to account for how much more effective the Niners offense was in field position last year, particularly in the latter half.
Additionally, Pro Football Focus awarded Pinion with a plus-22.0 punting grade on the year — tied for 14th best in the league alongside former 49ers punter Andy Lee, whom Pinion replaced back in 2015. And his plus-53.0 overall special teams mark was best in the NFL.
Sure, specialists don’t always warrant the same kind of attention as other players on the roster. But locking Pinion up for the next few years would be an easy move to make and with little financial impact.