As if they needed to, the 49ers made moves yesterday to increase their already NFL-leading unused salary cap space up to $42.29MM in 2023 (Overthecap.com). This time, San Francisco addressed the contract of defensive tackle Arik Armstead, according to Field Yates of ESPN.
The 49ers came to an agreement with Armstead, who’s currently playing on a five-year, $85MM contract, to convert $14.72MM of his 2023 base salary into a signing bonus while adding an additional void year to the end of his current deal. The moved resulted in $11.78MM becoming available in cap space for the 2023 season.
We mentioned yesterday that the additional cap space for the 49ers could have multiple uses that benefit the team. The obvious immediate benefit is that San Francisco should have plenty of flexibility around the trade deadline to make any necessary additions.
If second-year quarterback Brock Purdy decides to continue adding to his flawless regular season record and the team deems that no additions are necessary, the 49ers will be able to roll over unused cap space into 2024, when they’re projected to be $40MM over the salary cap. They’ll likely still make additions or adjustments in the offseason that will make it a closer call but having over $42MM of cap space to play with is insanely valuable.
Here are a couple of other restructures from another 2022 NFC playoff squad:
- Shortly after rewarding defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence with a four-year, $87.5MM contract extension, the Giants have restructured his new deal for a bit of maneuverability in the team’s cap space, according to Jordan Raanan of ESPN. Lawrence’s 2023 base salary of $2.25MM was reduced down to $1.08MM with the difference of $1.17MM being converted into a signing bonus. This is a standard move at the start of the year to help create a bit of flexibility in the team’s salary cap.
- New York also adjusted the contract of new linebacker Bobby Okereke, according to Raanan. Okereke’s 2023 base salary of $1.9MM was also reduced to $1.08MM with the $820K-difference being converted into a signing bonus. Along with Lawrence’s above restructure, the team was reportedly able to clear up about $1.55MM of cap space for 2023.