The loss of Nick Bosa to a season-ending ACL injury undoubtedly makes the San Francisco 49ers a weaker football team. That's simply what happens when one of the best defensive players in the game is taken out of the lineup.
Just ask the Dallas Cowboys. What, too soon?
From a football standpoint, there's nothing positive that can be said about losing Bosa. From the business side of things, however, there is one bit of good news to come from this dire situation, as ESPN reported that the Niners will receive nearly $7 million in salary cap relief next season, thanks to an insurance policy they took out on the five-year, $170 million contract extension they gave the Ohio State alum just ahead of the 2023 campaign.
And San Francisco could certainly use the help.
According to Over The Cap, the 49ers currently have the fifth-most cap space in the NFL for this season at $26,559,906. And that's with more than $99 million in dead money. But while that dead-money figure drops to roughly $21.85 million in 2026, so does their available cap room. As it stands now, San Francisco has just over $13.81 million of space, as several of the team's more lucrative contracts spike significantly, including that of Bosa, whose cap hit will be the highest on the team at more than $42 million.
Now, just because the Niners will have an extra $7 million to spend doesn't mean they will. For starters, $7 million in the NFL certainly doesn't go as far as it once did. So, getting a truly impactful player at that number is much more difficult.
And secondly, general manager John Lynch made it crystal clear this past offseason the team was in cost-cutting mode, as several key contributors were either traded or allowed to hit free agency, a list that included the likes of Deebo Samuel, Dre Greenlaw, Charvarius Ward, Talanoa Hufanga, and Javon Hargrave, among others. And it's not as if Lynch spent a ton of cash to bring in new players.
In fact, during the first week or so of free agency back in March, free agents who were on the San Francisco roster a season ago signed deals elsewhere that could be worth up to $341,522,500. Meanwhile, the 10 players the Niners signed that week inked deals worth up to $41,880,000. That $299,642,500 added up to the largest free-agent spending deficit in NFL history by almost $100 million.
So, it'll be very interesting to see how Lynch tackles next offseason. But while he'll have that extra $7 million to spend if he so chooses, one would assume he'd rather be watching Bosa take the field on Sunday instead of getting ready to undergo yet another knee surgery.