The 49ers Restructed Fred Warner's Contract

Before the 49ers restructured his contract, Warner's cap hit was going to be $24.5 million. Now, it's $13.8 million, which means the 49ers created more than $10 million in salary cap space with this move.

The 49ers have more salary cap space than people realize.

Last week, they restructured Fred Warner's contract, according to Matt Barrows of The Athletic. Which means they converted some or all of his base salary into a signing bonus and made his cap hit considerably lower for 2024 and higher in the future.

Before the 49ers restructured his contract, Warner's cap hit was going to be $24.5 million. Now, it's $13.8 million, which means the 49ers created more than $10 million in salary cap space with this move.

Warner is signed through 2026, and he has no guaranteed salary left in his contract, so the 49ers could have asked him to take a pay cut, as they asked Arik Armstead and Kyle Juszczyk to take pay cuts. But Warner doesn't merit a pay cut. He's one of the 49ers' best players, he's extremely consistent and he has missed only one game in his career. He's the kind of player a team rewards.

The 49ers aren't necessarily done restructuring contracts. If they want more cap space, they could restructure or extend cornerback Charvarius Ward and free up $9 million. They also could restructure or extend George Kittle and free up $9 million. They also could restructure or extend Deebo Samuel and free up more than $15 million, but I doubt they'll touch his contract, because it's unclear if he's a good long term investment.

The point is the 49ers have lots of ways they can create cap space to make a big move in free agency if that's what they want to do.