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The NFL sent a memo to teams on Thursday outlining the salary cap would be increased to $ 180 million for the 2021 season. While this is a little good news, it’s still good news for the 49ers and the looming salary cap gymnastics they’ll have to swing in free agency.
Ahead of last season, the NFL and the NFL Players’ Association agreed to a salary cap of $ 175 million as they prepared for the long-term financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Teams can generally count on the cap to grow by around $ 10 million each year. A floor of $ 175 million would have been a drop of $ 23 million from 2020 and leave the 49ers with around $ 9 million of ceiling space.
Now the NFL has reset the floor to $ 180 million, which would leave San Francisco with $ 12,670,669 in free space. This number will increase once they cut and restructure the list to free up additional space.
General manager John Lynch told reporters after the season that the team are projecting a cap of $ 175 million.
“We operate under the floor principle, which is 175 (million),” Lynch said on his end-of-season video conference. “We felt it was best to operate from that and formulate our plans from that. If it’s anything over the top, it’s gravy for us.
The extra $ 5 million will be advantageous in resolving their stand-alone agent situation, but it’s also a sign that the cap could exceed $ 180 million.
Either way, the maneuvers will not be easy for the 49ers this offseason. This is the first time they’ve really come up against the cap with good players like Trent Williams, K’Waun Williams and Kyle Juszczyk all in free agency. They’ll need every dollar they can get over the cap, and the NFL’s announcement of an increased cap gives them an extra $ 5 million that they didn’t plan to have.
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