Entering Friday at the bottom of the NFL in cap space, the 49ers moved back toward the middle of the pack with one move. They redid safety Jimmie Ward‘s deal, creating nearly $6MM in cap room, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets.
San Francisco carried less than $1MM in space, per OverTheCap, prior to this move. The team moved around $7.8MM of Ward’s 2021 salary into a bonus, creating approximately $5.85MM in cap room, per Yates. This slides the 49ers up to 16th in cap space going into Week 1.
This marks the first Ward restructure. The former first-round pick re-signed with the 49ers last year, doing so after a lengthy stretch without a long-term deal. Ward played out his rookie contract, which included a fifth-year option season, and re-signed to stay in San Francisco on a one-year deal in 2019. After Ward played a key role for the NFC champion 49ers defense that season, he received a three-year, $28.5MM offer. That deal initially called for an $8.4MM base salary this season. That number is now much lower.
While this move will raise Ward’s 2022 cap figure, it gives the 49ers some additional flexibility going into this season.
I am curious as to why some of the teams are doing this. The Saints who need money to sign depth, sure. But why others are freeing up money in a year about to start…odd.I can’t imagine any big money deals being signed for this season.
Trades
Big time NIU alum!! Gray job Jimmie!
Good dude right there. Hope our secondary can stay healthy. It looks deep this year. Take the pressure of a guy to miss one game when he needs to instead of playing through. Jimmy always plays through tell the wheels fall off.