2026 Offseason Preview: San Francisco
The San Francisco 49ers will be looking for ways to improve one of the league's best compensated rosters
statbutler.com will be compiling offseason previews for all 32 teams in the lead up to free agency. Feel free to share any of the text/visuals below with attribution. All underlying contract data was collected by overthecap.com.
Recent Team History
After a disappointing 2024, San Francisco reversed their fortunes and turned in a 12 win season plus a playoff win, despite the fact that they dealt with significant injury issues.
2025 Season
San Francisco was forced to go to Mac Jones in Weeks 2 & 3 and then again from Week 5 to Week 10. The offense also went through stretches without George Kittle and Ricky Pearsall. Star WR Brandon Aiyuk was not with the team for any part of 2025. Incredibly, this was still an offense that finished the year in the 75th percentile of EPA/play. This success is a testament to Kyle Shannan, Christian McCaffrey, and the 49ers excellent offensive linemen.
New Defensive Coordinator
For the second time in his tenure as 49ers head coach, Kyle Shanahan is replacing Robert Saleh after Saleh accepted a head coaching job. In 2020, it was DeMeco Ryans that took the role when Saleh left for the Jets. This time around, San Francisco is bringing in Raheem Morris, most recently the head coach in Atlanta, to take the reigns. Morris has a long history of coaching alongside Shanahan.
Returning Players
Note that all restructures below are assumed to be max restructures. This means that the team will use void years to prorate cash across up to five seasons, minimizing amount that will hit the current year’s salary cap.
For players who are not vested veterans, I’ve replaced information about the player’s active contract with a description of the team control remaining until the player can become an unrestricted free agent.
The key pillars of the San Francisco offense are aging, but far from crumbling. Christian McCaffrey (30), George Kittle (32), Trent Williams (38), Jake Brendel (34), and Colton McKivitz (30) have been fixtures in this successful offense for years. I don’t think it is time to replace any of these guys, but the team should be stocking up on the kind of versatile offensive talent that powers this offense. Mac Jones’ solid showing is going to make him a serious trade candidate, especially since a team can bring him in at just over $3m.
San Francisco’s defense is younger than their offense, but the unit also isn’t quite as strong. There are four defenders due to make $15m+ in 2026: Nick Bosa ($23.2m), Fred Warner ($23.2m), Bryce Huff ($17.1m), and Deommodore Lenoir ($16.6m). Bosa, who missed nearly all of 2025 with a torn ACL, is the only of the four who has any guarantees at the moment and it covers all of his 2026 compensation. Warner missed significant time in 2025, but was playing well prior to that. His offseason is especially significant because he’s due to have his next two years of salaries ($1.7m & $15.3m) vest to full guarantees on April 1st, but at some point will also earn a $21m option which makes up nearly all of his 2026 pay. With that said, Warner can effectively lock in $38m prior to the start of the season. Bryce Huff played well enough to stick at $17m in my opinion, but I’m sure San Francisco would like to see him a bigger load going forward.
Expiring Contracts
San Francisco’s top free agent is Jauan Jennings. Jennings took a step back after a strong 2024, but they need some real help at WR and may not have the appetite to spend an early pick at the position or spend big in free agency. Veteran kicker Eddy Pineiro is coming off a season where he missed just one field goal, so he may be a candidate to return in 2026.
Projected Tags & Cuts
I’m not including ERFA eligible players here (expiring contracts with less than 3 accrued seasons), as they can either sign a league minimum contract or the team can allow them to leave.
San Francisco has a handful of players that are scheduled to earn major cash in 2026. As long the 49ers believe in the makeup of this team, I think they might as well stick with who they have. The only exception is Brandon Aiyuk. Aiyuk was unable to return from a knee injury suffered in 2024 and the team voided the remaining guarantees in his contract in November. For a trade to happen, Aiyuk would surely need to renegotiate his current contract, which he really has no incentive to work toward since the alternative would be an outright release. There really is no other path here. He’ll be a free agent and we’ll see if he’s able to play again elsewhere.
The Niners have three players that I see as legitimately on the radar for a Restricted Free Agent tender. The first is Kalia Davis. Davis is coming off a bad season, but he played a ton. As a former draft pick, the Original Round tender should safely lock him in for $3.7m if the 49ers so choose. Sam Okuayinonu is probably a safer bet to get a tender. He’ll likely be at the Right of First Refusal level ($3.5m). The last player I could see getting a tender is Jake Tonges. Tonges came on frequently when George Kittle was out of the lineup. I could see him being someone they want to keep, also at the Right of First Refusal level.
The Salary Cap
In the image below, each blue bordered rectangle is equivalent to the cap hit of a single player. Within that rectangle, there are more rectangles that break down the player’s cap hit. Areas colored green can be pushed entirely into a future cap years via max restructure. Areas with vertical bars are “locked in” and the team cannot open them up by releasing the player. They represent either fully guaranteed cash that hasn’t been earned yet or remaining proration from cash earned in previous league years.
Cap space isn’t an immediate concern for San Francisco. Still, there really isn’t a ton of extra space available to be created from what you see above. The 49ers won’t have the luxury of a wide open offseason.
I expect Aiyuk to get a Post-June 1st designation when he is ultimately released. His dead cap will amount to $29.6m, but taking it right away will amount to a net decrease in cap space. As such, they’ll split his dead cap into $8.3m in 2026 & $21.2m in 2027. They’ll realize the net cap space gain from that move starting June 2nd.
I have San Francisco in one of the league’s tighter cap situations. I’m estimating $54.2m in “Excess Cap Space” (25th). This is essentially cap space that could be spent on free agents or extensions. In terms of cash spending, I have the 49ers set to spent $327m in 2026 already. This is the highest mark in the league and it will be a far bigger limiter than the cap. I would be surprised to see the team shell out more than $50m in first-year cash for new extensions or free agents this summer unless they get a retirement or unexpectedly move on from one of their highly paid vets.
Draft Capital
The 49ers sent away several Day 3 picks in the upcoming draft for veterans this offseason, but they should be expecting to receive a pair of 4th round compensatory picks plus another in the 5th per OverTheCap projections. With their first pick coming at 27, their overall stockpile of picks is still just 23rd based on my observed trade pick value model.