2024 Off-Season

[wco81]

CMC signs a 2-year, $38 million extension, which would take him through the 2027 season when he will be 31.

Along with the huge contracts WRs are getting, not just Justin Jefferson but I believe AJ Brown, St. Brown with the Lions and Waddle all signed huge extensions this offseason, 49ers are going to have to pay Aiyuk if they expect to retain him.

Apparently he's holding out of mandatory mini camps.

If Pearsall hits immediately, they may just have to move either Deebo or Aiyuk as soon as they can.

After extending CMC, how much cap room could they have in the next couple of years before Purdy comes up?

Not to mention, the room they opened up is because they let Armstead walk -- well he wouldn't restructure -- and that is a risk because Kinlaw also walked for a 1-year deal with the Jets.

[CrimsonCrew]

$15 million in a void year for McCaffrey. They've been mostly figuring it out with kicking the cap down the road, but I hate all these void years where you're paying significant dead money to dudes. It killed us with Dee Ford (though that was after a restructure), and it seems like at some point the bill will come due in a big way, but we'll see....

[Jikkle]

$15 million in a void year for McCaffrey. They've been mostly figuring it out with kicking the cap down the road, but I hate all these void years where you're paying significant dead money to dudes. It killed us with Dee Ford (though that was after a restructure), and it seems like at some point the bill will come due in a big way, but we'll see....

The smart teams basically structure their player's contracts in a way where they can kick the can down the road for a while. I mean I can't remember how many years the Saints were massively over the cap and you wondered who was going to get cut only for them to work cap magic to get under the cap and not lose anyone.

When you look at the current roster right now it's about a good 2 or 3 year window before it's time to look to a new era of guys.

So if it was me I'd sorta follow the Rams blueprint and maximize the window we have and when the window is winding down take a year or two to clean up the books, stock up on picks, and set yourself up for the next window.

If Purdy is the man like we all hope he is then we'll have about another 2 windows with him at the helm. It's why finding a franchise QB is so important because your team can be in the mix for 15 years if you do.

[CrimsonCrew]

$15 million in a void year for McCaffrey. They've been mostly figuring it out with kicking the cap down the road, but I hate all these void years where you're paying significant dead money to dudes. It killed us with Dee Ford (though that was after a restructure), and it seems like at some point the bill will come due in a big way, but we'll see....

The smart teams basically structure their player's contracts in a way where they can kick the can down the road for a while. I mean I can't remember how many years the Saints were massively over the cap and you wondered who was going to get cut only for them to work cap magic to get under the cap and not lose anyone.

When you look at the current roster right now it's about a good 2 or 3 year window before it's time to look to a new era of guys.

So if it was me I'd sorta follow the Rams blueprint and maximize the window we have and when the window is winding down take a year or two to clean up the books, stock up on picks, and set yourself up for the next window.

If Purdy is the man like we all hope he is then we'll have about another 2 windows with him at the helm. It's why finding a franchise QB is so important because your team can be in the mix for 15 years if you do.

Yes, but...the Saints could easily be seen as a cautionary tale. They didn't win while they were doing that cap magic, and eventually it did come due and they had to gut the team. They haven't bounced back since. Granted they lost Brees and haven't really replaced him, but I would love to avoid the collapse....

I think Purdy is generally underrated and a very good QB with more room to improve, but I'm not sure he can carry a less talented team the way Mahomes did last year (on offense, anyway).

[CrimsonCrew]

More info on McCaffrey's contract. His cap hit is around $25 million in the last year (from Spotrac; Lombardi reports it at $27M), but about $5.7 million in dead cap. Can't see him earning that full figure, so this reads more like a one-year extension (added to his two remaining years) that secures guaranteed money for him and has a big number for the press to report, but should give the Niners plenty of flexibility.

I'm honestly not sure how the void years work in a case like this, if we cut him before his final year. Spotrac has his dead cap at about $2 million for the year after his contract.

[CrimsonCrew]

Okay, did a little reading on the void year deal. Looks like - as I understood it - the player does get the money regardless. However, because it's pro-rated money over the life of the contract, you reap the savings in earlier seasons. This is what the Niners have done lately in terms of maximizing available cap space during the season (they currently have $32 million in cap space) so they can make some in-season moves, but still roll over most of it into the next season. If you can show that restraint in terms of sitting on a big chunk of cap space, then void years probably don't hurt you all that much.

The concern is that, especially with a Purdy extension, they will become worse at rolling that space over in years to come. We shall see.

[wco81]

I heard that Deebo's cap number this year will be $29 million.

If that's the case and in 2027 the 49ers are still a top contender with CMC still putting up big numbers, they will probably find a way.

At least the cap will be more by then.

[CrimsonCrew]

I heard that Deebo's cap number this year will be $29 million.

If that's the case and in 2027 the 49ers are still a top contender with CMC still putting up big numbers, they will probably find a way.

At least the cap will be more by then.

In 2027, our QB will probably cost more than $1 million.

[Jikkle]

$15 million in a void year for McCaffrey. They've been mostly figuring it out with kicking the cap down the road, but I hate all these void years where you're paying significant dead money to dudes. It killed us with Dee Ford (though that was after a restructure), and it seems like at some point the bill will come due in a big way, but we'll see....

The smart teams basically structure their player's contracts in a way where they can kick the can down the road for a while. I mean I can't remember how many years the Saints were massively over the cap and you wondered who was going to get cut only for them to work cap magic to get under the cap and not lose anyone.

When you look at the current roster right now it's about a good 2 or 3 year window before it's time to look to a new era of guys.

So if it was me I'd sorta follow the Rams blueprint and maximize the window we have and when the window is winding down take a year or two to clean up the books, stock up on picks, and set yourself up for the next window.

If Purdy is the man like we all hope he is then we'll have about another 2 windows with him at the helm. It's why finding a franchise QB is so important because your team can be in the mix for 15 years if you do.

Yes, but...the Saints could easily be seen as a cautionary tale. They didn't win while they were doing that cap magic, and eventually it did come due and they had to gut the team. They haven't bounced back since. Granted they lost Brees and haven't really replaced him, but I would love to avoid the collapse....

I think Purdy is generally underrated and a very good QB with more room to improve, but I'm not sure he can carry a less talented team the way Mahomes did last year (on offense, anyway).

Saints did come close and were consistently in the playoffs and they did have some terrible luck in a couple of runs that cost them.

They haven't bounced back because like you said they haven't replaced Brees or Payton for that matter as Allen to me is a pretty middle-of-the-road head coach.

I tend to believe because of Purdy's high processing ability and accuracy he could still carry a less talented team the issue though is he would need at least an averageish offensive line to do it. I mean he wouldn't need the Lion's offensive line or anything but if the group of WRs he's working with isn't talented than he would need time for guys to work themselves open.

[CrimsonCrew]

Yes, I think Purdy can put out an effective offensive product, especially with Shanahan at the helm. But can he make the wow plays to seal it in the playoffs with a weaker supporting cast? Maybe. He made plays this past year despite his playmakers having kind of quiet games, but we also barely squeaked through our first two games.

[wco81]

Shefter says that the 49ers were one of the teams which contacted the Vikings about Justin Jefferson, presumably before they formally extended him.

[Harry Palmer]

BA posted a clip where he says the 49ers have told him they don’t want him back. Could be just how business negotiations can feel personal to the person in question, could be posturing, could be legit (though I think the first two more likely). But either way, it’s looking like the fears that this could get ugly were justified.

So weird because imo if there is one guy on the 9ers O that embodies buying into the Shanahan system and all it demands, that would be BA. I feel like Kittle and CMC exemplify it just as much, but that was already built in, they didn’t develop it to fit Kyle’s expectations. So weird.

[CrimsonCrew]

Titans signed Jamal Adams. Thank God. There was some talk the Niners were interested in him. I have zero interest. Guy is a complete liability in coverage.

[Pattersonca65]

$15 million in a void year for McCaffrey. They've been mostly figuring it out with kicking the cap down the road, but I hate all these void years where you're paying significant dead money to dudes. It killed us with Dee Ford (though that was after a restructure), and it seems like at some point the bill will come due in a big way, but we'll see....

The 49ers killed themselves this way after the 1994 Super Bowl.

[Cactus Jack]

Titans signed Jamal Adams. Thank God. There was some talk the Niners were interested in him. I have zero interest. Guy is a complete liability in coverage.

TBF he suffered a brutal injury (torn Quad). He tore it completely off the bone & and hasn't been the same since. I thought he might retire because he looked like a shell of himself this past season. He couldn't move at all. The injuries have started to pile up for him. Is he a liability in coverage? Yes. But I don't think his body can & will hold up much longer. Even though he's still somewhat relatively young (28). The guy has simply missed too much time the last three plus years.

[Jikkle]

$15 million in a void year for McCaffrey. They've been mostly figuring it out with kicking the cap down the road, but I hate all these void years where you're paying significant dead money to dudes. It killed us with Dee Ford (though that was after a restructure), and it seems like at some point the bill will come due in a big way, but we'll see....

The 49ers killed themselves this way after the 1994 Super Bowl.

To be fair 94 was the year the salary cap was first instituted so it's not like teams really had a full grasp on how to maximize the salary cap.

These days teams pretty much have a handle on how to manipulate it and it's pretty rare to see teams get in serious salary cap trouble like they used to.

I think they'll take this current Super Bowl window as far as it'll go and once the key guys on the current roster are gone they'll take a year to clear the cap and get the roster younger.

If Purdy is truly legit then it won't be difficult to build back up for another run. I use the Rams as an example because they were supposed to rebuild but because they had Stafford and made some good picks they were able to be competitive despite them clearly wanting to clean up their books and have all their picks to refresh the roster.

[Pattersonca65]

$15 million in a void year for McCaffrey. They've been mostly figuring it out with kicking the cap down the road, but I hate all these void years where you're paying significant dead money to dudes. It killed us with Dee Ford (though that was after a restructure), and it seems like at some point the bill will come due in a big way, but we'll see....

The 49ers killed themselves this way after the 1994 Super Bowl.

To be fair 94 was the year the salary cap was first instituted so it's not like teams really had a full grasp on how to maximize the salary cap.

These days teams pretty much have a handle on how to manipulate it and it's pretty rare to see teams get in serious salary cap trouble like they used to.

I think they'll take this current Super Bowl window as far as it'll go and once the key guys on the current roster are gone they'll take a year to clear the cap and get the roster younger.

If Purdy is truly legit then it won't be difficult to build back up for another run. I use the Rams as an example because they were supposed to rebuild but because they had Stafford and made some good picks they were able to be competitive despite them clearly wanting to clean up their books and have all their picks to refresh the roster.

I think Carmen Policy and the FO office knew exactly what they were doing. And I have never faulted them for doing what they did. They were trying to win one more super bowl with that core and needed to beef up the roster which could not get past Dallas for consecutive years. They were successful in getting that last Super Bowl so hard to be critical. But what Carmen Policy did was kick the can down the road. They created a number of incentive based contracts where the terms of the contract were easy to attain. Those contracts essentially pushed cap dollars into future years. Dion Sanders was getting paid by the 49ers while he was playing for Dallas because he had one of those contracts. The 49ers had built up a large amount of dead cap space, they had a large cap number going to players who were no longer on team. It didn't help that the FO at the time made some questionable draft picks and free agent signings that did not pan out. Bill Walsh was brought back to clean it all up.

[CrimsonCrew]

Titans signed Jamal Adams. Thank God. There was some talk the Niners were interested in him. I have zero interest. Guy is a complete liability in coverage.

TBF he suffered a brutal injury (torn Quad). He tore it completely off the bone & and hasn't been the same since. I thought he might retire because he looked like a shell of himself this past season. He couldn't move at all. The injuries have started to pile up for him. Is he a liability in coverage? Yes. But I don't think his body can & will hold up much longer. Even though he's still somewhat relatively young (28). The guy has simply missed too much time the last three plus years.

No doubt that injury really knocked him off a cliff, but he was never particularly good in coverage, and was awful in that area for pretty much his whole tenure with the Hawks. He was great as a pass rusher, and good playing the run in the box, but too easy to exploit in today's NFL.

[Cactus Jack]

Titans signed Jamal Adams. Thank God. There was some talk the Niners were interested in him. I have zero interest. Guy is a complete liability in coverage.

TBF he suffered a brutal injury (torn Quad). He tore it completely off the bone & and hasn't been the same since. I thought he might retire because he looked like a shell of himself this past season. He couldn't move at all. The injuries have started to pile up for him. Is he a liability in coverage? Yes. But I don't think his body can & will hold up much longer. Even though he's still somewhat relatively young (28). The guy has simply missed too much time the last three plus years.

No doubt that injury really knocked him off a cliff, but he was never particularly good in coverage, and was awful in that area for pretty much his whole tenure with the Hawks. He was great as a pass rusher, and good playing the run in the box, but too easy to exploit in today's NFL.

Yeah, he said he contemplated retirement last year. So, I figured he was done. He was in a really bad place, as far as his mental health. That's partly why he made those comments about that reporter. It was a dumb thing to do. But he thought his career was over.

He actually played well early on. Set the DB record for sacks his first year. But the injuries just took a toll.

[wco81]

49ers have 4 players in the PFFL Top 50 NFL players list and 7 overall.

https://football.realgm.com/wiretap/51354/Patrick-Mahomes-Atop-PFFs-Top-50-NFL-Players-Seven-49ers-On-List

That's the most in the top 10 of any NFL team, didn't count to see if it's the most in the top 50.

Expectations are high. If their window ends without at least 1 title, it has to be considered a huge failure.