A massive part of the San Francisco 49ers' cost-cutting measures from earlier this offseason is the fact it ultimately generated a ton of dead salary cap.
Most in the NFL entering 2025, as a matter of fact.
We'll get to that number in a second, but it was part of the greater strategic initiative by general manager John Lynch and the Niners front office during the offseason. And it's important to remember dead cap and cash spend are two very different things.
Case in point, when San Francisco traded wide receiver Deebo Samuel to the Washington Commanders, it incurred a $34 million dead cap hit for 2025. But the 49ers don't actually owe Samuel any more money, period.
The $34 million dead cap hit looks bad on paper, yes. But the Niners created a situation with dead cap over the years, largely by way of adding void years to players' contracts and extensions, thereby lessening each year's cap hit and spreading it out over a longer period of time, which affords the opportunity to add more talent any given year.
Think of it kind of like credit card spending.
That said, the dead cap for San Francisco this year is, well... a lot.
49ers boast exorbitant amount of dead salary cap in 2025
Over the Cap's Jason Fitzgerald compiled the league leaders in dead cap for the upcoming season, and you won't necessarily be shocked to see the 49ers at the top.
Rather, you'll be shocked to see just how far ahead the Niners are from the rest of the pack:
San Francisco boasts $25-plus million more dead cap than the No. 2 team on the list, the Seattle Seahawks.
Now, you'd think this would put the 49ers in a major bind, right? Especially after inking quarterback Brock Purdy to a lucrative contract extension not long ago.
Well, not exactly.
Also, per OTC, the Niners have an estimated $53.5 million in cap space for the year, second most in the league behind the New England Patriots' $67.3 million. Sure, Purdy's extension won't kick off massive-money spend until 2026, but it's safe to say San Francisco isn't exactly in salary cap hell despite having a ton of dead money.
It's not as if it's your money anyway.
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