NFL’s Organized Team Activities (OTAs) opened on Monday and one team that is not in an ideal situation going into them is the San Francisco 49ers. According to Over the Cap, the 49ers have the least available cap space in the league.
The San Francisco-based franchise has just US$673,752 in cap space, and things get worse when you look at their effective cap space – it is in the red by US$708,468. Effective cap space is the cap space that a team will have after it has signed at least fifty-one players and added its projected rookie class to the roster.
Offloading Garoppolo is an Easy Fix
The good news for the 49ers is that they can clear some of that cap space, seven million to be exact, by taking Jimmy Garoppolo’s name off the books. Of course, there are various other ways in which the San Francisco 49ers can free up some much-needed cap space, but offloading their high-earning quarterback is the most effective one.
Jimmy Garoppolo, the highest-earner on the 49ers roster, is currently recovering from a shoulder injury. However, as soon as he returns, San Francisco are expected to trade or release him. By doing that the 49ers will clear US$25.5 million in cap space.
And even if they don’t need that space now, they can use it next year to give themselves more room to operate in the market. Therefore, it is easy to see why the quarterback will not be included in the 49ers roster for next season and there’s probably no scenario in which Garoppolo stays in San Francisco.
Restructuring and Extensions if Garoppolo Stays
If they decide to clear some room without unloading Garoppolo, San Francisco can do that too. But it will be hard. They will have to do some astute restructuring and hammer out contract extensions when they sign their rookie class.
Whatever they decide to do, the 49ers have a lot of work on their hands if they want to get out of their cap troubles. It is most likely that they will part ways with Garoppolo to achieve that.
