Fooch's note: Site decorum will be off in all posts for today (Monday) given all the insanity. Site decorum is back in place Tuesday barring more breaking news.
The San Francisco 49ers made their first big move before the NFL trade deadline, dealing tight end Vernon Davis to the Denver Broncos. The trade deadline is 1 p.m. PT on Tuesday, so the 49ers still have time to do more dealing. In the meantime, they get even more cap room to add on to what will be a sizable amount in 2016.
The Vernon trade means the 49ers will eat some dead money, but clear some cap space. The 49ers clear out the remaining $2.3 million of his base salary, as well as $240,625 in roster bonus money. They are left eating the remainder of his prorated signing bonus money. He entered the season with $2,067,920 in prorated bonus money on the cap, and that remains. Additionally, he had $200,000 in workout bonus money that remains. Finally, they already paid him $109,375 in roster bonus, so that qualifies as dead money the rest of the way.
Long story short? The 49ers clear about $2.5 million in cap space. I'll get exact numbers from Jason Hurley, but that is about where things stand. The 49ers will have two open roster spots with this trade and what sounds like the inevitable placement of Reggie Bush on injured reserve. That means the 49ers will sign two players. Even at the league minimum, that means a 9-week prorated portion of $870,000 in base salary (approximately $460,000) will be added back in. Either way, the 49ers clear cap space with this trade, and add in some draft picks.
Jason Hurley will be updating the 2016 cap page, but right now the 49ers are looking at some serious space in 2016. Jason has them at $44 million, but I believe that number needed to be adjusted a little bit before the Vernon trade. Whatever the case, $40+ million in cap space is nothing to sneeze at.