The San Francisco 49ers made a major move in terms of Deebo Samuel’s contract, though perhaps not the one the wide receiver had been hoping for before Week 1. That move may need to wait.
Tuesday, mere hours after the 49ers signed stalwart All-Pro left tackle Trent Williams to a long-term contract extension, and nearly a week after Brandon Aiyuk’s hold-in resulted in a contract extension, San Francisco restructured Samuel’s current deal.
According to a report from ESPN’s Field Yates, the restructure frees up approximately $16.4 million in cap space.
San Francisco 49ers, John Lynch Reportedly Open Massive Amount of Cap Space
Before Tuesday’s moves — Samuel’s restructure, and Williams’ extension, the 49ers were staring down the barrel at needing to potentially find a way to make Samuel whole and happy with a new long-term contract and eventually at season’s end make Brock Burdy one of the highest-paid quarterbacks in the sport, with limited cap space.
However, after moving money around on Samuel’s del, and inking Williams’ extension worth approximately $82.6 million over the next three years, San Francisco currently is projected to have in the neighborhood of $50.4 million in spending flexibility in 2024 and just over $60 million in 2025, according to Spotrac.
Tuesday’s moves make it more palatable for general manager John Lynch and the 49ers to be able to fit a Purdy extension under the cap, once he is eligible for the first time after this season, and potentially even sign Samuel to the long-term contract he’s been seeking all offseason.
Suddenly, with the additional spending flexibility over the next two seasons, a colossal new contract for Purdy and an eventual extension for Samuel don’t seem so prohibitive towards keeping the 49ers’ explosive collection of talent on both sides of the football together for the foreseeable future.
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