49ers 2020 NFL free agency tracker: Latest moves, rumors and updates
By Peter Panacy
49ers Bring Back Defensive End Arik Armstead
One candidate the Niners could have used the franchise tag on this offseason was defensive end Arik Armstead. Yet the Monday deadline passed, and Armstead wasn’t on the list of reported tagged players.
The reason? San Francisco inked him to a long-term deal.
First reported by NBC Sports Bay Area’s Matt Maiocco Monday morning, the 49ers re-signed their 2015 first-round NFL Draft choice to a five-year deal worth up to $85 million. According to Maiocco’s figures, the average annual salary is around $17 million per season, which is approximately what the range would have been on the franchise tag.
This report has Arik Armstead’s new 49ers contract at 6 years, not 5, and as I expected — heavily backloaded. Look at the base salaries…
— David Lombardi (@LombardiHimself) March 16, 2020
20: $2.5m
21: $6.7m
22: $14.1m
23: $15.9m
24: $17.4m
25: $17m
$17.5m signing bonus/6 = $2.9m. So only a $5.4m salary-cap hit this year! https://t.co/Uedj6ls3Qd
Considering San Francisco’s cap situation, retaining the team’s sack leader from 2019 will put a lot of pressure towards working new deals with other pending free agents, as well as potentially extending players like tight end George Kittle.
Armstead enjoyed a career year in 2019, so he hit a contract year at the right point and got paid as a result.
How much this impacts the 49ers’ cap situation in the coming days and weeks is yet to be seen, and it could have some long-term impacts on how the defensive line stands.