5 contracts holding the 49ers back right now
By Peter Panacy
No. 2: Wide receiver Deebo Samuel
2024 salary cap hit: $28,633,765
The Niners face a potential conundrum with their top two wide receivers, Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel.
Aiyuk, San Francisco's leading pass-catcher the last two years, is up for a contract extension that could pay him at least $25 million per season. But the cap-pressed 49ers are going to have challenges meeting his contractual demands.
Samuel, who was once the Niners' top receiving weapon, might be a tier below Aiyuk in terms of overall pass-catching prowess, yet the former is set to see his cap hit jump from $8.7 million in 2023 to $28.6 million in 2024.
That's over 10 percent of San Francisco's total cap number.
If the 49ers want to revisit making Samuel the featured offensive weapon in 2024, it would justify that contractual number.
It just might come at the expense of extending or re-signing Aiyuk.