49ers latest moves could point to another big swing
The 49ers finally pulled off their most important personnel move of 2023 when they came to terms with Nick Bosa on a contract extension that makes him the highest-paid defender in NFL history. While the league's premier defensive player agreed an historic contract, two similarly important members of the 49er roster, George Kittle and Trent […]
The 49ers finally pulled off their most important personnel move of 2023 when they came to terms with Nick Bosa on a contract extension that makes him the highest-paid defender in NFL history.
While the league's premier defensive player agreed an historic contract, two similarly important members of the 49er roster, George Kittle and Trent Williams, restructured their deals to create masses of cap space for San Francisco.
The restructures, per Field Yates of ESPN, generated $23.2 million in cap space for the Niners, meaning that, using Bosa's old cap hit of $18.9 million, they now have the second-most cap space in the NFL at $24.6 million, per Spotrac.
There are two potential reasons for the clearing of the decks. The restructures could be to create space for a more onerous cap charge for Bosa in 2023, though this would be a deviation from the 49ers' longtime strategy of backloading deals to kick money into future years.
However, the more intriguing possibility is that the 49ers, who have a history of taking big swings to maximize their Super Bowl chances, have made the room for another all-in move to add another potential impact player to an already loaded roster.
A target position for such a move could be an edge rusher to provide more support to Bosa. San Francisco's edge depth behind the reigning Defensive Player of the Year is suspect, and the Niners would greatly benefit from adding another defensive end to the rotation.
Eagles edge rusher Derek Barnett was recently given permission to gauge his trade market, but Philadelphia would likely be reluctant to do a deal with its NFC Championship Game opponent from last season.
The structure of Bosa's contract could render talk of acquiring another potential difference-maker moot, but San Francisco's moves on Wednesday are an illustration of how CEO Jed York's willingness to spend money buys the 49ers flexibility.
Having agreed to pay Bosa a $50 million signing bonus, York also signed off on restructures that converted $10.6 million of Kittle's base salary for 2023 and $18.2 million of Williams' salary for this season into signing bonuses.
In other words, York essentially agreed to spend just shy of $80 million in one day and, the result, at least at the time of writing, is that the 49ers have the most cap wiggle room in the NFC as well as arguably the NFL's most stacked roster. In another season where the 49ers are finally looking to get over the top, York's readiness to pay up could ultimately prove to be the difference.
Kyle Shanahan reveals the only way Nick Bosa would not play Week 1
It’s not likely to happen.
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