Carlos Rogers release could wait until after 1 p.m. PT

Josina Anderson reported on Monday that the San Francisco 49ers were preparing to release cornerback Carlos Rogers. The move did not go down Monday afternoon, but it seems like it could very well happen shortly after the start of the new league year. As Matt Barrows pointed out, to give a player the June 1st designation, they must be released after the new league year begins. The new league year starts today (Tuesday) at 1 p.m. PT.

The June 1st designation allows the team to gain some more immediate savings, and push some dead money into 2015. If the 49ers released Rogers without the designation, they would save approximately $5.1 million in 2014 cap space and that would be the end of his deal. If they gave Rogers the designation, they would save approximately $6.6 million in 2014 cap space, but they would then have approximately $1.5 million in dead money in 2015. The cap savings net out between the two, but with several long term deals potentially coming down the pike this offseason, a few extra bucks now can be a big difference.

Either way, the 49ers would seem set to make this move before the close of business today. It would be kind of weak to wait on this and prevent Rogers from hitting the market as soon as possible. The 49ers can do as they please on this, but I think it would reflect poorly to not make the move right away. I suppose they could still be debating it, or negotiating with Rogers, but if they know they're going to do this eventually, they might as well do it now.