In 2017, the San Francisco 49ers spent $47,419,179 in salary cap dollars on the team’s offense. That was the fewest in the NFL, and only the Browns and Jets were under $60M. In 2018? San Francisco has $111,833,332 in salary cap dollars allocated to offensive players, the most in the NFL.

How did that happen? Well, it’s pretty simple.

• The 49ers have $38.8M allocated to quarterbacks, by far the most in the NFL. The Lions are second at $27.6M, meaning this is a truly untenable number. This is mostly due to Jimmy Garoppolo, of course, and his contract is structured unevenly for cap purposes. At it stands, the ex-Patriot will have a $37M cap hit in ’18, a $20M cap hit in ’19, and between $26.6 and $27M in ’20, ’21, and ’22. The 49ers pushed an absurd amount of salary cap dollars into 2018 thanks to a $28M roster bonus.

• The 49ers have $13.0M allocated to running backs, which trails only the Le’Veon Bell-led Steelers and Bills (not only LeSean McCoy, but also backup Chris Ivory and FB Patrick DiMarco have large contracts for their roles). Fullback Kyle Juszczyk ($4,45M cap hit in 2018) is by far the highest paid player at his position, after signing an off-market contract last year. But the team matched the insanity in 2018, signing Jerick McKinnon to a huge contract that carries a $10.5M cap hit in 2018, the second highest (Bell) in the league. That came a year after the 49ers traded the 143rd and 161st picks in the draft to move up to select Joe Williams, a RB that Kyle Shanahan claimed he would “be sick” if the 49ers didn’t grab.

• At wide receiver, San Francisco has $23.3M in salary cap dollars, which is slightly above-average, too. This is mostly allocated to Pierre Garcon ($9.25M), Marquise Goodwin ($6.28M on a new contract this month), and Aldrick Robinson ($2.2M).

The 49ers went a little cheap at TE (Garrett Celek at $2.7M) and are about average on the offensive line. Joe Staley has a cap hit back down to $7.7M, and the 49ers will have a reasonably priced RT in either Trenton Brown or Garry Gilliam. At guard, Jonathan Cooper, Zane Beadles, and Josh Garnett will compete for two spots, with the big money player being new C Weston Richburg.  The 49ers lured Richburg from the Giants with one of the richest contracts in the league for any center.

 

The contracts paid to the running backs were obvious overpays, and Garoppolo’s contract pays him as though he’ll continue to be the player he was for five starts last year.  Thirteen months ago, wouldn’t think adding Garoppolo, McKinnon, and a fullback would transform the 49ers from the cheapest to the most expensive offense in the league, but here we are.