This offseason, the San Francisco 49ers have a major decision to make with two players. Trent Williams might be traded if his $39 million contract can't be altered, while Brandon Aiyuk is all but certain to be cut.
Aiyuk's future is the much more certain one. As ESPN's Nick Wagoner reported, the 49ers are planning to release Aiyuk at the start of the new league year on Wednesday, March 11th. If not right at the start, then it will come shortly afterwards.
Either way, Aiyuk is likely gone. But the 49ers are going to face some financial repercussions for this decision. Wagoner shared the dead cap figures from cutting Aiyuk, which make this decision even more impactful for San Francisco moving forward.
49ers dead cap hit amid Brandon Aiyuk's expected release explained
"SF is expected to use post June 1 designation," Wagoner reports, "which is why they had to wait until the new league year begins."
By using a post June 1 release, the 49ers will spread the dead cap hit for Aiyuk on the rest of his $120 million contract over the next two seasons.
San Francisco will be taking on a $13.325 million dead cap hit in 2026 and a $21.247 million dead cap hit in 2027 with this expected release plan, Wagoner shared, according to OverTheCap.com.
Wagoner also mentioned that San Francisco will get a $4.987 million credit toward the 2027 cap with this expected release plan for Aiyuk.
While the 49ers will take on a lot of dead money by cutting ties with Aiyuk this offseason, they will be saved in the future.
More: 49ers to sign Mike Evans away from Buccaneers after 12 years
San Francisco might take a short-term hit with this dead cap charge, but in the long-run, they will be saving a lot of money by moving on from Aiyuk in this manner.
According to Over The Cap, by designating Aiyuk as a post June 1 release, the 49ers will get $33 million in cap savings in 2027 and $34.9 million in 2028.
While this massive extension didn't go to plan for the 49ers or for Aiyuk, as he played just seven games and made just 25 catches for 374 yards since signing the deal.
But, with the 49ers moving forward this offseason, they will be saving a lot of future money by parting ways with the 27-year-old wide receiver who was a first-round pick by the 49ers in the 2020 NFL Draft.
More 49ers news: