Contracts 49ers Must Consider Cutting in 2022 Offseason – Bleacher Report
In the 2021 season, the San Francisco 49ers reached the NFC Championship Game for the second time in three years. But unlike their previous trip, they couldn't make it to the Super Bowl.
So it's time for San Francisco to begin looking ahead. And while the 49ers had a successful season that included a pair of road playoff wins, there are ways they can improve their roster via trades, free agency and the draft to take them to the next level.
According to Over the Cap, San Francisco has a little more than $5 million in available cap space. So if it hopes to spend much money this offseason, it will need to find ways to create more room to give it more financial flexibility.
Here are several players the 49ers should consider parting ways with during the offseason so that they can bolster their roster via free agency.
The 49ers will likely be looking to trade Jimmy Garoppolo before considering cutting him. And as a quarterback who has produced solid results over his five years in San Francisco, teams should be interested in acquiring the 30-year-old.
Even though Garoppolo has helped the 49ers reach the NFC Championship Game twice over the past three seasons, they are likely going to turn to Trey Lance for 2022 and beyond. Lance was selected with the No. 3 overall pick in the 2021 NFL draft, and San Francisco hopes he will become its franchise QB.
Garoppolo has only one year left on his contract, but he has a cap hit of $26.9 million. That would be a lot to pay a backup quarterback, assuming that San Francisco remains set on starting Lance even if it can't trade his predecessor. So perhaps at that point the 49ers would consider releasing Garoppolo.
The most likely scenario is that another team gives San Francisco a good offer for Garoppolo and he ends up getting moved that way. Regardless, the 49ers need to find a way to get his contract off their payroll if they are planning to commit to Lance.
Over Dee Ford's first three seasons with the 49ers, he's played in only 18 games, 11 of which came in his first year with the team in 2019. This season, he was limited to six games because of numerous injuries, and he recorded only five tackles and three sacks.
Ford doesn't become a free agent until after the 2023 season, but he will have a cap hit of $11.9 million in 2022. That's a lot to pay to a 30-year-old defensive end who hasn't been able to stay on the field in recent years, especially when San Francisco has solid depth on its pass rush.
ESPN's Nick Wagoner suggested in December that retirement perhaps could be a possibility for Ford, who has been dealing with a lingering back issue. If that happens, then the 49ers won't have to worry about how to move Ford's contract off their payroll.
But for now, he remains one of the top cut candidates to clear space for the 2022 season. And if he decides he wants to keep playing, it may have to be somewhere other than San Francisco.
The 49ers don't have a ton of strong release candidates to try to clear cap space, so maybe now is the time they decide to get younger at kicker. Robbie Gould is 39, and while he's been efficient over his five years with San Francisco, he doesn't have the biggest range among NFL kickers.
Gould went 10-of-13 on field goal attempts of 40 or more yards in 2021, and he hasn't made a field goal longer than 53 yards since 2015, his final season with the Chicago Bears. So while he's been solid for the 49ers, they could get more power out of the position.
In 2022, Gould is set to have a $5.5 million cap hit in the final season of his contract. If San Francisco believes it could get similar or better production at a lower cost, then moving on from Gould could be a way to free a bit of cap space.
If the 49ers don't want to risk losing consistency on special teams, then maybe this isn't a move they consider. But if they have a bunch of other areas they want to address, perhaps the seasoned kicker makes way so that they can get the most out of their roster.
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