Although there are still a few transactions to be made across the league, most teams have just about settled on their 90-man rosters for training camp. The 49ers are one team that has not quite reached that point, with one open roster spot remaining to be filled. Given where we stand, Pro Football Talk found a good time to post team-by-team cap space for each team.
According to PFT, the 49ers currently have $4.19 million in cap space. The 49ers entered the offseason with a sizable amount of cap space and used it up fairly efficiently. They return their entire defense, brought in some essential weapons for the offense, and even managed to sign all-world punter Andy Lee to a long term extension. Not bad for a few months work.
The 49ers front office displayed particular cunning in how they situated themselves for this offseason. They renegotiated Patrick Willis' deal so that he had a sizable cap figure this year, freeing up more space as we move forward past 2012. This is important because the NFL salary cap will not be increasing anywhere near as drastically had in seasons past. The coming years will see modest jumps of a million here, a couple million there.
Although the current cap space limits the opportunities to load up NaVorro Bowman's deal with 2012 dollars, that does not mean we won't see a deal get done between now and the end of 2012. There is nothing to indicate a deal is close to done, but it remains an option, in spite of limited cap space right now.