49ers roster: 5 players with the highest salary cap hits in 2023
By Peter Panacy
49ers top contract No. 2: Defensive tackle Arik Armstead
2023 Cap Hit: $23.99 million (zero guaranteed)
Like Fred Warner, defensive tackle Arik Armstead’s current deal carries nothing in guaranteed money from now through its expiration after the 2024 season, although Armstead did earn a substantial $6.65 million in guarantees in 2021.
There are going to be those who feel as if Armstead is vastly overpaid, however, and those opinions are almost always going to be fueled by statistics.
To be fair, Armstead appeared in only nine regular-season games in 2022 and posted just 11 tackles, four quarterback hits and zero sacks during that timeframe. In earlier years, fans were hoping for the sack totals to get around what he enjoyed back in 2019 with 10.
But Armstead’s impact is delivered in ways that don’t often show up on the stat sheet. And while San Francisco’s defense got by just fine without him for much of 2022, that speaks more to the fill-in impacts from reserve defenders like Hassan Ridgeway and Kevin Givens than it does to Armstead not being vital.
However, a $23.99 million potential cap hit this year is substantial.