SF 49ers: Analyzing salary cap situation ahead of NFL trade deadline

If the SF 49ers elect to make a move at the NFL trade deadline, it’ll have to fall into some tight confines due to the team’s salary cap situation.

There are a number of reasons why the SF 49ers won’t be aggressive “buyers” at the 2020 NFL trade deadline.

Perhaps the biggest one of these is the Niners simply don’t have sufficient salary cap space to make a big deal happen. Even though veteran defensive end Everson Griffen was moved prior to Tuesday’s cutoff from the Dallas Cowboys to the Detroit Lions for a mere conditional sixth-round pick, his roughly $3 million in still-owed salary this season would have put San Francisco’s general manager, John Lynch, into a tight spot even though the team is notably short on pass-rushing help.

To break down what the SF 49ers’ landscape is, in terms of their cap situation ahead of the trade deadline, let’s take a look at some key numbers and figures.

SF 49ers’ current salary cap situation entering Week 8

Right now, the Niners have a total of $203,186,292 of player liabilities committed with a mere $2,893,566 of cap space. Those numbers will fluctuate on a near-weekly basis, as players are signed or cut, although the relatively low amount of space is what needs to be stressed here.

Teams typically like to keep at least $5 million free in advance of a regular season to sign players to reinforce needs, guard against injury attrition, etc.

And anyone who has monitored San Francisco’s injury list in 2020 knows that’s been a massive need.

Speaking of money committed to injured players, the Niners currently have $55,503,521 for players on injured reserve. The three-week minimum IR period this season changes the general landscape of how those contracts are absorbed, and a number of IR players are likely to return this season.

But it doesn’t eliminate the fact all those injuries have proven costly to Lynch and Co., both in terms of dollars committed and those players being off the field. It’s also prompted a significant amount of spend on practice-squad player call-ups, whose game-day contracts are notably more than what they’d otherwise be making on this reserve unit.

Simply put, promoting players off the practice squad isn’t necessarily a cheap endeavor.

SF 49ers’ long-term cap ramifications at NFL trade deadline

Unless the Niners unload a number of more-expensive players between now and the deadline, it’s highly unlikely Lynch and Co. will be able to make a notable trade. There’s the potential of reworking player deals, yet San Francisco has mostly done this with its more-expensive players, save quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, and one might guess the front office isn’t quite ready to do that.

Remember, restructuring contracts tends to delay cap issues into future years rather than provide immediate solutions that don’t impact teams at all.

The other issue to consider here is the SF 49ers already have $168,039,826 in cap liabilities committed to the 2021 roster and a slew of pending free agents they’d ideally like to re-sign. While some cap casualties and other roster moves could free up some space, it’s not hard to see why next year’s current total against a salary cap potentially dropping as low as $175 million makes the prospects for a trade more difficult.

Particularly if any player grabbed via trade is signed through next year, essentially making any 2020 deadline deals of the “rental” variety.

Yet those kinds of moves would also hinder the Niners from using their future NFL Draft picks, and most importantly, benefiting from the cheaper rookie contracts associated with them. When considering San Francisco’s eventual need to extend up-and-coming players like linebacker Fred Warner and EDGE Nick Bosa, who are both on their respective rookie deals, moving picks at the deadline doesn’t seem so smart a move in the long run.

Even if only for a short-term rental player.

Because of this, it doesn’t seem likely Lynch and San Francisco’s front office executes a blockbuster-type move at the NFL trade deadline this season, which is officially at 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Nov. 3.

All figures courtesy of Over the Cap.