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Kwon Alexander was probably always getting cut next season. The emergence of Dre Greenlaw last season made him an expensive and unnecessary part of the roster, and with the salary cap potentially about to drop precipitously—currently set at a floor of $175 million, which would represent a $23.2 million drop from this year’s cap—and much of the roster to re-sign, from Trent Williams to the entire secondary, money-finding moves were always in store.
So, San Francisco traded Alexander to New Orleans, acquiring linebacker Kiko Alonso and a fifth-round pick. Per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, the team wanted to trade Alexander after the Super Bowl, but couldn’t because he underwent surgery on his bicep. Finally healthy(ish) and having played his best football this season before suffering an ankle sprain, the 49ers got their chance.
The move does two things: it saves San Francisco a bit of money in the short-term, which may actually be crucial for practice squad activations, and it nets them a fifth-round draft choice for a player they don’t need.
Per the NFLPA’s latest numbers, which preceded the Alexander trade, the 49ers had just $104,810 in salary cap space.
This followed three key moves: the team re-restructured both Alexander and Weston Richburg’s contracts, and restructured Laken Tomlinson’s deal.
The moves on Alexander and Richburg took on additional money this year, while Tomlinson, who could well be extended in the future, opened up salary cap space this season.
In Alexander’s first restructured contract, which looked like this (below), he would have had a dead cap hit of $10,419,067 if traded or cut.
Instead, the 49ers took an additional hit on this year’s cap. They adjusted the money and left themselves a $6,908,935 dead cap next season.
That second restructure saved them $3,510,132 in cap space next season, but put that liability on this year’s cap. By moving Alexander for Alonso, there’s an immediate salary cap bonus, which makes up for much of that.
Instead of being due the remaining $2.5 million plus $750,000 per game roster bonus (prorated per game, so effectively $375,000), the 49ers are now just due the remaining money on Kiko Alonso’s salary, at $850,000. Thats a $2,025,000 savings for a player, in Alexander, they were going to cut anyway, plus a fifth-round pick. For a team with just a bit more than $100K in cap space before the move, that’s a massive operational benefit.
Again, the reason they got in this position was to make Alexander and Richburg more cuttable next year. The move to restructure Richburg for a second time (which happened in the last month) makes him far more palatable to be cut next season. It cost them roughly $1.38 million in cap space. Tomlinson’s move, which saw his cap hit go from to $5,750,000 to $4,409,294 opened up roughly $1.34 million in cap space to make up for that difference.
Here are some key terms to explain what the 49ers have done:
Voidable years: A common tactic teams use to cheat the salary cap at least temporarily. It sends money, usually converting non-guaranteed base salary money into the future, when players’ contracts are up. It guarantees that money. If players are extended, the money from those voidable years remains intact. If players are cut, that money comes due in the year those players are cut.
Tomlinson’s contract added three voidable years. If he’s extended, which seems likely at this juncture, he’ll already have some bonus money due to him. If not, well, see below.
Amortization: The process of future money being amortized, or due immediately. This does not require voidable years. For example, if a player has two years remaining on his contract, with $5 million guaranteed in 2021 and 2022, but is cut in 2021, all $10 million of that guaranteed money comes due immediately in 2021.
You can see how if this happens with voidable years, the impact is outsized.
Restructures: The most common type of restructuring occurs when non-guaranteed salary is converted into bonus money and pushed into future years. Players agree to it because it guarantees them more money. Teams do it to clear cap space in the immediate term.
Here’s an example. In order to create space for 2020, player X has their contract amended. Let’s say the original deal looks like this.:
2020: Base salary: $10 million. Pro-rated bonus money: $5 million
2021: Base salary: $10 million. Pro-rated bonus money: $5 million
2022: Base salary: $10 million. Pro-rated bonus money: $5 million
Their restructured deal, with voidable years added, looks like this:
2020: Base salary: $2 million. Pro-rated bonus money: $5 million
2021: Base salary: $10 million. Pro-rated bonus money: $7 million
2022: Base salary: $10 million. Pro-rated bonus money: $7 million
2023: Pro-rated bonus money: $2 million
2024: Pro-rated bonus money: $2 million
The team has saved $8 million in cap space in 2020, but if this player gets cut in 2021, they’ll have to immediately pay $18 million in dead cap instead of the $10 million they would have needed to before the restructure. There is one exception to this.
Below is a breakdown on Richburg.
Weston Richburg
According to OverTheCap, Richburg had his deal restructured twice. The second restructure resulted in an additional, roughly $1.4 million hitting the cap in 2020. Initially, the team had added two voidable years in 2023 and 2024. Those were removed.
Here is what Richburg’s original contract looked like. He was guaranteed the full $9.26 million in 2018 and if he remained on the roster on April 1 of that league year, his base salaries in 2019 and 2020 would guaranteed. In theory, after year one, the 49ers could cut him at any point, with a pretty minimal cap impact. The dead cap hits would have been $7.44 million in 2019, $5.58 million in 2020, $3.72 million in 2021 and $1.86 million in 2022.
(Bold denotes guaranteed money. Bolded, italicized numbers indicate money which guaranteed on April 1 of that league year. 2019 and 2020 years were guaranteed for injury).
Where the 49ers really ran into trouble is that his contract is reportedly guaranteed for injury.
See those easy outs? (Literally every season from 2019-22). Gone. Richburg had two preseason surgeries; one in 2019, one in 2020. Both sent him to the physically unable to perform list, guaranteeing his base salaries for each season. The 49ers still could have cut him, it would just mean a massive dead cap hit in those seasons.
What San Francisco did initially, during the 2019 season, was this:
The team added two voidable years in 2023 and 2024. As explained above, if cut, the voidable year money ($1.195 million and $1.136 million for Richburg) would be due immediately.
San Francisco did this in order to benefit the 2020 cap. His cap number in 2019 dropped slightly, by just over $260K. His 2020 cap hit dropped from a fully guaranteed $8.86 million to $4.39 million, saving $4.47 million in the 2020 season.
In exchange, instead of a guaranteed $3,720,000 over his final two years, Richburg was due $8,441,424.
It seems that the 49ers have both realized (maybe long-known is a better description) that they won’t be extending Richburg at age 32 and that they’d rather eat some of that money now and possibly prepare to cut him next season. So, the current contract, reflected by OverTheCap, shows a second restructure to take on more money in this season.
Here’s Richburg’s current deal, with 2021 and 2022 as team options (decisions due on March 9, 2021 and March 8, 2022, respectively).
The team removed the voidable years in 2023 and 2024.
They took on an additional $1,384,983 this season from $986,475 in guaranteed base salary and $398,508 in prorated bonus money. (Sidenote: when you start to restructure deals multiple times, the numbers get very, very weird).
Richburg’s 2020 salary was unavoidable because of the injury guarantees. Unlike with other restructures, the 49ers didn’t add any more money to their plate. Once he underwent surgery this offseason, Richburg, with his old contract or new, guaranteed himself his $6.5 million base salary.
That means, in effect, Richburg guaranteed himself $28,500,000 thanks to injuries. The 49ers just reorganized when some of that money came due.
San Francisco saved $3,084,876 in cap space in 2020.
To summarize: Due to Richburg’s injuries and the massive size of the initial contract, the 49ers found themselves on the hook for most of Richburg’s money in the first three years. But just like with Alexander, the second restructure of his contract makes Richburg more cuttable next season.
Here’s what those deals look like lined up next to each other: In total, the 49ers fixed some of their errors to free up about $5 million in cap space next season.
Per OTC @Jason_OTC and NFLPA, #49ers recently re-re-structured deals of both Weston Richburg (removed void yrs) and Kwon Alexander. Took heavier cap hit in '20
Saves $1.47M from Richburg in '21
Saves $3.51M from Kwon in '21From L-R (Richburg re to re-re and Kwon re to re-re) pic.twitter.com/sKyp6pZrfH
— Jake Hutchinson (@hutchdiesel) November 2, 2020
These are all part of preparations for a season in which the 49ers could have to shed significant salary. The easiest place to find more money? Jimmy Garoppolo.
Garoppolo’s contract is the one the 49ers have conspicuously declined to touch.
In 2021, he’s due $26,900,000. Only $1,400,000 of that money is guaranteed. In 2022, he’s due $27,000,000. Only $1,400,000 of that money is guaranteed.
The 49ers can save $24,100,000 if they cut Garoppolo next season. With Alexander and potentially Richburg gone this offseason, the 49ers’ only clear, remaining albatross contract would be Dee Ford’s. The stage is set for some interesting offseason maneuvering.
