A salary cap crunch forced the 49ers to make their biggest splash of the offseason in a trade that sent Pro Bowl defensive tackle DeForest Buckner to the Indianapolis Colts. They re-signed Arik Armstead and Jimmie Ward, but most of their other additions have been relatively minor depth signings.
All of their offseason maneuvering has left them with $14,558,790 in salary cap space according to Over the Cap. That’s the 16th-most room in the NFL at the end of March.
Despite the fact they’re not going to need a ton of room to make a big free agent move, that cap number matters for the 49ers. A long-term extension for tight end George Kittle is still on the table, and they need some room to add their 2020 draft class.
Their relatively sizable cap space can be traced back to the structure of the Armstead and Ward contracts. Both of them have low cap hits in 2020, which gave the 49ers a little wiggle room. They can generate additional space by making a couple of post-June 1 cuts.
This is the reason the 49ers made the deal they made for Buckner. He got a massive, front-loaded contract that San Francisco would not have been able to fit and still re-sign Armstead, Ward and a host of others. It also would’ve made Kittle’s extension even more difficult. Now they’re in a position where they’re far enough under the cap that they have some breathing room to negotiate a deal for arguably their most important player.
