MARCH 13: The 49ers are designating Armstead as a post-June 1 cut, Maiocco tweets. This path made the most sense for San Francisco, with $18MM coming in cap savings and the veteran DT’s dead money hit being spread over two years. The 49ers will not see the savings until June. The Titans have already been connected as an Armstead suitor.
MARCH 10: A year after assembling a high-priced defensive line via the Javon Hargrave contract and Nick Bosa extension, the 49ers are removing their longest-tenured player from this equation. They are planning to release Arik Armstead, Bleacher Report’s Jordan Schultz tweets.
Armstead has been with the 49ers since they chose him in the 2015 first round; one season remained on the extension he signed back in 2020. He was due a $17.4MM base salary in 2024. This will almost definitely be a post-June 1 cut, due to the void years attached to the deal. The 49ers would save more than $18MM via a post-June 1 release.
The team approached Armstead about taking a significant pay cut, NBC Sports Bay Area’s Matt Maiocco tweets. Armstead declined and will move to free agency soon. With the Chiefs extending Chris Jones at a monster rate and the Ravens giving Justin Madubuike a high-priced deal that had topped the DT guarantee spectrum until the Jones pact surfaced, Armstead should still do well despite his age (30). A host of D-tackles signed extensions last year, effectively clearing the market for Christian Wilkins, who promises to be far more expensive than Armstead.
This could open the door to the 49ers moving into the Wilkins derby, though even as Brock Purdy is on a rookie deal, the team does have a defender-record contract (Bosa’s) and a $21MM-AAV DT deal (Hargrave’s) on its books. The 49ers also came into Sunday over the cap by less than $1MM. Cutting Armstead at the start of the 2024 league year (March 13) would be a way to help on that front, and the nine-year veteran has dealt with injury trouble often during his Bay Area tenure.
The 49ers effectively chose Armstead over DeForest Buckner back in 2020, trading the latter to the Colts in order to work out what turned out to be a lower-priced DT extension. It took a $21MM-per-year deal for Indianapolis to lock down Buckner. After beginning talks, San Francisco decided to trade Buckner and re-up Armstead on a five-year, $85MM deal. The $17MM-AAV contract helped the 49ers give Bosa a high-end sidekick, doing so as a few pieces shuttled on and off the team’s D-line. Bosa and Armstead have been the constants during this strong period, which has brought four NFC championship games in five years.
Armstead missed more time due to injuries last season. After missing eight games in 2022, the 6-foot-7 D-lineman missed five late-season games due to foot and knee injuries. Armstead returned in time for the 49ers’ playoff run but did so at less than 100%. He recently underwent knee surgery and is expected to miss offseason time. These recent setbacks will undoubtedly affect Armstead’s market.
Armstead’s injury trouble aside, he has been one of the NFL’s best interior defenders over the past few years. Moved from a D-end role earlier in his career to a DT, Armstead totaled five sacks and 13 QB hits last season. Pro Football Focus ranked the veteran fifth among interior D-linemen in pass rushing, while ESPN’s pass rush win rate metric slotted him 10th. Armstead totaled 10 sacks during the 49ers’ breakthrough 2019 season; he sacked Patrick Mahomes in Super Bowl LVIII last month. Armstead has thrived in the playoffs, totaling eight postseason sacks.
This will create a need for the 49ers, who have been known to invest heavily along their defensive line. Javon Kinlaw, whom the 49ers chose with the pick obtained for Buckner, is also a free agent. San Francisco will be a team to monitor here as free agency begins. Armstead and the 49ers’ pay-cut talks came close, per ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter, but the accomplished D-lineman wanted to gauge his market. That could mean the door is not closed on a reunion at a lower rate, but for now, Armstead is out of the picture for the reigning NFC champions.
Wow. Houston makes sense. Need, money, the Ryans connection, and we know Armstead is sick of state income tax.
Dude is an awesome football player, but with his constant foot issues he’s probably cooked
Dukes gotta make this happen for the bengals. Perfect upgrade for moving on from Reader
If there was a world where the Bills could fit him next to Ed Oliver….
I know. I know. Let me dream.
Niners could’ve drafted Christian McCaffrey…
K
Here comes Joey!
Oof. This one feels like it hurts a bit, but that cap hit made it inevitable. Gone of the days of the 6’7”, 300 lbs bookends (and inside tackles) for the 9ers. It was fun watching Armstead and Buckner line up in those days, and both remain productive to today.
Armstead should fetch a respectable contract, and while I suspect that it will be a three year deal or maximum four (reported, not actual) due to his age, something tells me that I should not be surprised if he gets offered a longer pact by a needy team. Some part of me wants to see him team up with Calais Campbell and old partner Buckner to form an all rebounding defensive line. Brent Urban could come out of his recent retirement as an alternate…
How can they just designate this as a post June 1 cut when it’s not June 1? I honestly don’t understand how this works. Please explain
It’s a function of the salary cap. They cut the player now, and avoid paying them anymore non-guaranteed money, however the “cap hold” remains until June 1st. The salary cap is also not what teams are paying players, as most well paid players salary and cap hit are not the same.
Thank you!