What the NFL's massive salary cap increase means for the San Francisco 49ers' offseason plans
The San Francisco 49ers were expected to have a difficult financial challenge on their hands this offseason as they look to ensure a roster that was a play away from winning the Super Bowl is in a position to contend again in 2024 and beyond. San Francisco was anticipated to be around $12 million over […]
The San Francisco 49ers were expected to have a difficult financial challenge on their hands this offseason as they look to ensure a roster that was a play away from winning the Super Bowl is in a position to contend again in 2024 and beyond.
San Francisco was anticipated to be around $12 million over an assumed salary cap of $242 million.
However, the NFL provided the Niners and the rest of the league with a massive boost on Friday, announcing a salary cap of $255.4 million in a record increase of $30.6 million from last year.
It's a move that puts the 49ers in a much better position going into a crucial offseason as they look to plot a route back to the Super Bowl following their agonizing overtime loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in the season-ending showpiece under two weeks ago.
Here's what the announcement means for San Francisco.
The 49ers' salary cap space
After the NFL's announcement, the 49ers were projected to be $834,165 under the salary cap, per Over The Cap. However, the 49ers have since released cornerback Isaiah Oliver, improving that number to $2.321 million.
That may not sound like a great deal of wiggle room but, as David Lombardi of The Athletic points out, there are essentially two different salary caps. One of the offseason, when only the top 51 contracts count, and an in-season salary cap. A team's 53-man roster must be cap compliant during the regular season.
For the offseason, Spotrac projected the 49ers as having $4.625 million in cap space prior to the Oliver release when taking only the top 51 into account. With the Niners' latest roster move, that will improve to around $6.1 million.
It still isn't a huge amount of wiggle room but, with concerns about being right up against the cap alleviated by the league, the Niners can now use contract restructures and extensions to free up more and achieve some big offseason ambitions.
An Aiyuk deal assist
The 49ers' priority in terms of their own players is a contract extension for Brandon Aiyuk.
San Francisco has managed to keep a host of high-priced big-name stars on its roster over recent years as the 49ers have continually contended for the Super Bowl.
It was thought Aiyuk might be a step too far and that the 49ers, having handed a three-year extension to Deebo Samuel in 2022, wouldn't be able to keep two wide receivers on the roster.
The odds of them doing so are improved following Friday's league announcement. Aiyuk is set to play on the fifth-year option in 2024, carrying a cap hit of $14.124 million.
San Francisco can lower that cap hit with an extension, while potential restructures for the likes of Trent Williams, Deebo Samuel, Arik Armstead and Fred Warner can give the Niners even more cap space in 2024. Per Lombardi, the 49ers could create as much as $98 million in space with such restructures.
With owner Jed York's willingness to pay large signing bonuses that the 49ers can pro-rate, an Aiyuk extension can be done without him carrying a huge cap hit in the first few years. The massive increase in the salary cap is an additional assist that increases the likelihood that the 49ers can look to do a deal with Aiyuk and still have room for other business in free agency.
Potential for a swing
San Francisco will hope to refresh a top-heavy roster with a strong draft in which they have 11 picks, including a first-rounder for the first time since 2021.
But not every draft pick is going to be an immediate contributor, and the increase in the cap gives the Niners the chance to attack free agency with a more realistic chance of signing one of the better players on the market.
The 49ers are not afraid to take big swings, doing so with Charvarius Ward in 2022 and then in last year's free agency period with Javon Hargrave.
This time around it appears more likely to be a signing of the Ward variety in which they turn what initially looks to be a solid double into a home run (Ward was an All-Pro for the first time in 2023).
But the additional wiggle room created by the league, combined with York's willingness to pay money up front to keep cap hits manageable early on, means the 49ers can now seemingly afford to be a little more ambitious. With holes at starting spots on both sides of the trenches and in the secondary, another swing to address at least one of those areas could be on the horizon.
49ers release cornerback Isaiah Oliver
It never panned out.
