Is the team done making moves?
The San Francisco 49ers have the third most cap space in the NFL, as of right around 4 p.m. Sunday afternoon:
From this morning’s cap report, teams with the most space …
1) Colts $77.07M
2) Texans $46.94M
3) 49ers $37.18M
4) Browns $35.60M
5) Jets $35.46M
6) Dolphins $33.36M
7) Bills $33.13M
8) Raiders $32.35M
9) Titans $31.464M
10) Lions $29.45M
11) Eagles $28.72M
12) Bengals $25.11M— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) March 17, 2019
The expectation that the team should use even more cap space just wasn’t very realistic. They spent roughly $30 million of their cap during the first week of free agnecy. They made plenty of moves. They took some risks, but that’s the kind of thing you can afford to do when you head into the new league year with $66 million.
The team has plenty of flexibility after the first week of free agency. A year from now, they’ll have some tough decisions to make. The contracts that will be up include Joe Staley, Jimmie Ward, Matt Brieda, Arik Armstead, and Ronald Blair. Oh, and go ahead and pencil Deforest Buckner in for about $17 or so million a year. Buckner is a beast. He’ll likely be one of the highest paid defensive tackle in the league a year from now.
I wonder if John Lynch and company are done making moves. Are they still trying to bring in another edge rusher? Could they be shopping around trying to find another member in the secondary, or a wide receiver? There are still some quality veterans available in free agency. I’d hold on tight to that #2 overall pick if I were Lynch, but I might make a call or two to say, Cincinnati and see if #36 could be had for A.J. Green. Get Kyle Shanahan his Julio Jones. You may even be able to get him cheaper than that, or another high quality player.
The Patriots do it all the time. By simply asking. The 49ers can afford to entertain offers like this because of the cap space they are working with.
About the Author: Insidethe49
