Tuesday’s OTA practice will be the only practice the media will be able to view this week. A host of 49ers won’t be on-hand, such as Trent Williams, Deebo Samuel, Trent Williams, Mike McGlinchey, and Jimmy Garoppolo.
One name that’s seldom been discussed is Dee Ford, a player who doesn’t seem to be in the Niners’ plans for 2022. San Francisco could have released edge rusher Samson Ebukam and saved in the ballpark of $4.8 million but declined to do so.
This offseason, the 49ers added Kerry Hyder and Kemoko Turay, re-signed Jordan Willis, and drafted Drake Jackson in the second round. The writing has been on the wall for Ford for what feels like a decade now. Jokes aside, the front office has told us how they feel about Ford’s dependability by their actions this offseason.
The Athletic’s Matt Barrows reported that the 49ers plan to cut Ford next month. Salary cap casualties in June became more prominent in 2006 when the NFL’s CBA included a new provision that allowed teams to release two players during the league year prior to June 2. A post-June 1 designation allows teams to get the player’s salary off the books at the time of the release unless the money on their contract is guaranteed.
Per Over the Cap, Ford no longer has any guaranteed money remaining on his contract. A post-June 1 designation would cost the 49ers $5.82 million in dead money this season and in 2023, and then $920,000 from 2024 through 2026.
Contractually speaking, Ford has been a headache for the 49ers for multiple years now, and that’s not slowing down anytime soon. By releasing Ford with a post-June 1 designation, the 49ers save $1.12 million in cap space this year and $2.76 million next season, but that’s not enough to offset the losses in dead money.
