Where the 49ers stand after getting clarity on salary cap figure, compensatory draft picks
The 49ers received some much needed clarity when it comes to their offseason plans.
The NFL on Wednesday finalized the salary cap for the 2021 league year, which officially begins March 17, at $182.5 million, just slightly above the $180 million floor that was negotiated by the league and NFL Players Association earlier this offseason.
That gives the 49ers roughly $24.6 million in cap space, according to ESPN, after adding performance incentives for players from 2020 that weren’t reached. Their cap space ranks 12th in the NFL, per OverTheCap.com.
Overall, San Francisco is in a decent position while the league navigates unprecedented financial circumstances. Since the collective bargaining agreement in 2011, the salary cap has risen roughly $10 million per year. But the revenue losses from the ongoing coronavirus pandemic caused the league-wide cap to shrink from $198.2 million last season.
It’s led to a number of key players getting released and creating a buyers’ market for free agents. It’s likely the smarter teams will go bargain hunting in free agency while fewer players are expected to get market-setting deals that have been typical each spring.
An exception will be star left tackle Trent Williams, who could get one of the largest contracts for an offensive lineman in league history. Williams said last season his preferred option was to return to San Francisco, but the two sides have not come to an agreement, as Williams has indicated he would like to test the open market.
But Williams made waves this week when he appeared with Richard Sherman on “The Cris Collinsworth Podcast featuring Richard Sherman” and reiterated his desire to return to the 49ers.
“I got him staying in San Francisco,” Sherman predicted. “I think he makes you guys happy for another five, six years, and gets his gold jacket.”
Said Williams: “That’s not a bad take, fellas. Y’all barking up the right tree.”
Williams could command a contract worth more than $20 million per season, which might eat up a significant portion of San Francisco’s available cap space. But the team could minimize his cap hit for 2021 through a number of different mechanisms, including back-loading the contract and including a prorated bonus spread over the life of the deal. There could be voidable years added to the back end to shrink Williams’ cap number while not costing Williams any money since his signing bonus would get paid up front.
The league’s official legal tampering period begins March 15. Players can officially sign contracts two days later.
Compensatory picks
The NFL on Wednesday also announced compensatory picks for the upcoming NFL draft. But it didn’t come without a hitch.
The league initially gave the 49ers two compensatory picks at the end of the third round, but the NFL erred in implementing the rules from its new guidelines regarding the hiring of minority candidates to coach and general manager positions.
The 49ers will get compensatory third-round picks in the next three drafts after former defensive coordinator Robert Saleh took the New York Jets’ head coaching job and former personnel executive Martin Mayhew took the GM role with the Washington Football Team. The 49ers will only get one compensatory third-round pick after the league initially announced it would get two.
That leaves San Francisco with 10 draft picks this spring, including a compensatory fifth-round selection from receiver Emmanuel Sanders leaving in free agency last year to join the New Orleans Saints.
Here are the 49ers’ 2021 draft picks (exact order of all picks not yet known):
Round 1: No. 12
Round 2: No. 43
Round 3: No. 102 (compensatory)
Round 4
Round 5
Round 5 (via Saints from Kwon Alexander trade)
Round 5: No. 180 (compensatory, Sanders)
Round 6
Round 7 (via New York Jets from Jordan Willis trade)
Round 7
Could Sanders, 49ers be reunited?
Sanders is expected to be released by the Saints this week, according to multiple reports and Sanders himself on Instagram. It wouldn’t be shocking to see the 49ers have interest in Sanders at the right price, rejoining his close friend Deebo Samuel and second-year pro Brandon Aiyuk, who had a strong rookie campaign in 2020.
The receiver market is replete with competent options who could be inexpensive, including 49ers free agent Kendrick Bourne. Other notable names: JuJu Smith-Schuster, Kenny Golladay, Will Fuller, Corey Davis, Sammy Watkins, T.Y. Hilton, Curtis Samuel, John Brown, A.J. Green, Larry Fitzgerald and DeSean Jackson.
