Happy Saturday everyone, I'm all but over the stupid previous season and am stoked for the offseason happenings and speculation. One of the major things we have been speculating on for a while is where our team's "cap space" is going this offseason. Colin Kaepernick, Michael Crabtree, Mike Iupati, and Aldon Smith are all eligible for extensions. Also, Donte Whitner, Tarell Brown, Anquan Boldin, and Phil Dawson are all free agents. There are undoubtedly players that I have left off (or more likely just forgotten) but for the most part, these are the players that are of the most consequence.
Per Ninercaphell, the 49ers currently have a little over seven million in cap space for next season. The obvious extensions from the group, at least for me, are Kaepernick and Aldon Smith, everyone else I can see reasons for or against. There are a few obvious cap casualties on the roster in Carlos Rogers, Craig Dahl, and Jon Baldwin. Cutting those three would net us some extra cap space, still, there just isn't enough money to sign everyone.
If I were making the decisions (be eternally grateful that I am not) I would let Whitner and Brown walk unless they were up to taking team friendly contracts. Safety is one of the cheaper positions to use the franchise tag on, but I don't view Whitner as a top five safety and do not want to pay him like it. Safety Alert: What happenens to Donte Whitner? (Gin)
We should all be going to sleep every night thanking our lucky stars that Joe Staley and Alex Boone get paid as little as they do and seem totally OK with it. Iupati is one of the few guards in the NFL that is worth a large extension and I wouldn't hesitate to pull the trigger. Just know that when Staley and Boone's contracts end, It will be hard to keep both if Iupati and Davis are making huge offensive line bucks. Odd man out? Several factors could block extension for Iupati (Branch)
Look ahead: 49ers likely to tap depth, not draft, on offensive line (Barrows)
The only way I could see the 49ers making a splash, and even then it would be a long shot, was if they decided to let Boldin walk. Eric Decker would make a ton of sense on this roster, but we aren't getting him (or any other "splash" player) unless we let one or two of the guys I listed walk instead. 49ers not likely to make big splash in free agency (Maiocco)
Top three teams of the Jim Harbaugh era (BASG)
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