The San Francisco 49ers had a disappointing 6-11 season in 2024, falling short due to injuries and overall regression from their talented roster.
That came despite the team spending a league-high $334 million in cash on their roster, according to Spotrac, outpacing regular spenders like the Cleveland Brown ($331 million) and Philadelphia Eagles ($328 million).
So, where was the discrepancy?
Well, the 49ers were ravaged by injuries, as $114 million of that cash was spent on players who ended the year injured. Leading the group was left tackle Trent Williams ($27.4 million in cash), wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk ($24.1 million in cash), and running back Christian McCaffrey ($15.6 million in cash).
All three players earned extensions last season and disappointed, playing a combined 21 games in 2024.
But, there were a number of other moves that forced owner Jed York to open up the checkbook with major cash moves.
San Francisco restructured the contracts of defensive tackle Javon Hargrave, wide receiver Deebo Samuel, tight end George Kittle, linebacker Fred Warner, defensive tackle Maliek Collins, and fullback Kyle Juszczyk.
While these moves simply converted the player’s salary into signing bonuses to help spread out the cap hits over the duration of a contract, they allowed the 49ers to free up more cap space to spend more, adding to a hefty bill for owner Jed York.
The 49ers were cap-compliant, but that wasn’t the issue in 2024. It was the actual cash flow that was significant, as San Francisco continued its ways of spending near the top of the league with the different types of salary cap maneuvers.
That allowed for the team to try and run it back with their older roster, but that backfired with a disappointing season, leading to questions from owner Jed York that are starting to come out.
Speaking at the 2025 NFL Combine, general manager John Lynch acknowledged the team’s spending habits over the past few years and the desire to decrease that this upcoming season.
“I think since Kyle [Shanahan] and I’ve been here, we’ve been certainly a top five, I believe the No. 2 cash spending team,” Lynch said last week. “In the last [four] years going into the fourth year, I think we’re the fourth-highest cash spending team. At some point, you have to reset a little bit or at least recalibrate. You can’t just keep pressing the pedal. And I think there’s some good that can come out of it. We need to get younger.
“I think we’re the oldest team in football trying to make a run at the deal last year and I think it’s good to constantly get younger. Our draft class last year was a great move towards that. We’ll have four picks in the top 100. If the comp picks happen like we see it, that’s always a calculation, you know, we’ll have 10 picks overall and we’re excited about adding more youth to a great core of players that we already have.”
To begin the offseason, we’ve already seen certain moves that correspond with that behavior.
Rather than releasing wide receiver Deebo Samuel with a post-June 1st cut and spreading the dead cap hit over two years to make it more feasible, the 49ers elected to trade the wideout, taking on a massive $31 million dead cap hit in 2025 for just a fifth-round pick.
Now, given Samuel’s contract and recent production, the return is actually pretty good, but the 49ers are electing to dig into their cap sheet this year and ‘recalibrate’, as Lynch said, essentially resetting for 2026.
Samuel has already gotten his money from the 49ers from a cash perspective last offseason, but this move digs into the team’s cap space and therefore directly impacts the amount they can actually spend this offseason.
Of course, there is a major contract that will likely cause Jed York to dole out a hefty amount of cash this offseason with the impending extension of quarterback Brock Purdy.
But, that move could lead to a lack of spending elsewhere, at least from a cash perspective, and the possibility of trades, or at least the idea of listening to them.
Rumors have already started to swirl about the future of wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk, with several reporters suggesting the 49ers would be willing to move him if the return was right this offseason.
York and the 49ers made a significant cash investment in the tenuous Aiyuk negotiation last offseason, which has reportedly rubbed several members of the front office wrong, and the wide receiver now is coming off a massive injury.
That’s why San Francisco could have a different offseason approach this season, not being big players in free agency and looking to shy away from older players, despite having a good chance to bounce back and make the playoffs in 2025.
Instead, it seems like a year to reset and bank on the draft, where San Francisco is well-equipped with 11 projected draft picks this year, including seven within the first four rounds.
The 49ers hit well on the draft in 2024, getting four projected starters in the first four rounds, while drafting role players like running back/kick returner Isaac Guerendo, wide receiver/punt returner Jacob Cowing, and linebacker Tatum Bethune, who should all have some role in 2025.
If they can do it again this offseason, they’ll be in great shape, both for the present and the future. But, if they want to have a successful season, the draft may be crucial, as the disappointing 2024 year has seemed to dampen the team’s spending efforts for 2025.