49ers waive Brandon Carswell

The San Francisco 49ers announced on Friday that they have released wide receiver Brandon Carswell. The move means the 49ers now have 73 players on their roster. I've posted the full roster below. I'll use the "strike through" function once we get into the summer and have a full roster with which to work. In the meantime, I'll simply remove player names.

The 49ers originally signed Carswell on June 12, 2013. He had entered the NFL the previous season as a UDFA with the Raiders. In his first practice with the 49ers, Carswell tore his ACL, and was placed on injured reserve on June 19. He spent the season on injured reserve.

There is no follow-up move at this point, although I suppose the 49ers could decide to replace him with Brandon Lloyd at some point. The 49ers have reportedly spoken with Lloyd, but there has been no indication if a deal is close, or if Lloyd will decide again that he does not want to return to the NFL.

The release of Carswell should not impact the 49ers offseason salary cap space. The offseason cap is based on the Top 51 contracts, and with a league minimum contract, Carswell is not in that group. This would have been his second straight league minimum season.

Last year, he was due to earn the league minimum, but received a split portion of that while on injured reserve. A split contract states that a player earns X amount if he makes the roster, but then a lesser amount if he is on injured reserve. Last season, Carswell was signed for $405,000, but ended up earning $288,000 with his split contract. That entire amount impacted the in-season cap, as the in-season cap covers all players on the roster. That includes the 53-man roster, the practice squad, and all injured reserve, PUP and NFI players.