7 players who could be playing their final season with 49ers

The 49ers will face plenty of tough roster decisions in a year's time, meaning these seven players could be entering their final season with San Francisco.

The San Francisco 49ers' roster in 2025 is likely going to look substantially different than the one fans have watched the last few seasons and the one they'll watch in 2024.

A massive elephant in the room is the fact the Niners will have to reward quarterback Brock Purdy with what'll be a lucrative contract extension. After averaging less than $1 million per year on his current rookie deal, Purdy could command top-dollar money on such an extension.

For a San Francisco squad that is currently projected by Over the Cap to be $23 million over the 2025 salary cap, that means big changes are coming.

The 49ers won't be able to splurge on big-money contracts like they did during Purdy's rookie-year deals, and they'll ultimately be forced into bidding farewell to a number of well-known players, both via cap casualties and departing free agents.

As such, these seven well-known Niners could very well be entering their final year in San Francisco.

WR Deebo Samuel

Wide receiver Deebo Samuel was the subject of trade rumors leading up to the 2024 NFL Draft, yet the 49ers ultimately decided to keep him on the roster despite apparently drafting his replacement in Round 1, wide receiver Ricky Pearsall.

That's an all-in-for-2024 kind of move, which makes sense. But Samuel's contract is a bit of an albatross, and if the Niners opt to part ways with him in 2025, they could do so either via trade or an outright release in a year's time.

If it's done with a post-June 1 designation, it'd save $17.57 million in cap space against $6.63 million in dead money while opening the door for Pearsall and fellow wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk to assume the featured roles.