3 ways 49ers can clear over $33 million in cap space
By Peter Panacy
49ers salary cap move No. 2: Release EDGE Samson Ebukam
This next move is a little tougher, particularly in the wake of San Francisco bidding a free-agent farewell to its second-best sack producer of 2021, defensive end Arden Key, who signed a one-year deal with the Jacksonville Jaguars after impressing with 6.5 sacks a season ago.
A player who’d stand to benefit a bit from this is fellow pass-rusher Samson Ebukam, who was inked to a two-year, $12 million free-agent deal last offseason but mostly unimpressed over the first half of 2021, eventually finishing with a modest 4.5 regular-season sacks, tying his career-best mark.
Right now, Ebukam is poised to be the No. 2 outside pass-rusher opposite fellow EDGE Nick Bosa even though the 49ers welcomed back defensive end Kerry Hyder after his one-year absence in 2021 with the Seattle Seahawks.
However, with an awfully deep class of outside pass-rushers in the 2022 draft, it wouldn’t be shocking at all to see the Niners search for Bosa’s complement there instead of hoping Ebukam finally breaks out into the open this upcoming season.
Parting ways with Ebukam now would generate a significant amount of cap space, $6.5 million to be exact, while costing San Francisco an affordable $1.75 million in dead money.
Not bad. And while situational pass-rushers are important to a defensive makeup, too, the 49ers would be better off exploring cheaper options in that department.