5 reasons why SF 49ers get back into Super Bowl in 2022
By Peter Panacy
No. 4: Free agency won’t hurt SF 49ers as bad as other teams
The Niners have nearly 40 players set to hit one form of free agency or another, which isn’t an ideal situation.
Richard Sherman, Jaquiski Tartt, nickel corner K’Waun Williams, boundary corner Jason Verrett, left tackle Trent Williams and fullback Kyle Juszczyk are just some of the starting-caliber names poised to hit the open market.
On the surface, that sounds bad. But it’s nowhere near as bad as some of the other teams out there.
Currently, according to Over the Cap, San Francisco has just over $9.5 million in cap space for 2021. But that’s actually in the middle of the pack (14th most). And while the SF 49ers won’t be able to financially compete with teams boasting huge amounts of cap space (i.e. the Jacksonville Jaguars at $73 million or the NY Jets at $63.5 million), most of those squads with a ton of cap room are in full rebuild mode anyway.
Meanwhile, playoff-bound teams like the Chiefs, Green Bay Packers, Buffalo Bills, New Orleans Saints, Pittsburgh Steelers, LA Rams and Tennessee Titans are in the red and have to shed 2021 contracts to create cap space.
None of this guarantees the SF 49ers will have exceptional success this upcoming season.
But to think the Niners’ current cap situation will eliminate them from Super Bowl contention this upcoming year would actually be quite premature. They don’t have it anywhere close to as bad as some of the other squads out there.