The 49ers on Monday signed defensive lineman Arik Armstead to a five-year deal that will keep the 2015 first-round pick in San Francisco for the foreseeable future.
While getting the team’s 2019 sack leader back is a strong move, the terms of the contract matter more than Armstead’s impact on the field though.
According to Over the Cap, Armstead’s $85 million deal includes $45.85 million guaranteed. The 49ers typically aim to front load their deals to make them more team friendly later in the contract, but they did the opposite with Armstead. He’ll carry just a $6 million cap hit in 2020, and a $12.5 million cap hit in 2021.
Those two relatively small cap numbers give San Francisco some added financial malleability while they navigate some other big-money deals and retain their other top talent.
Things get more difficult in the years beyond 2021 though. In 2022, Armstead’s cap number leaps to $20 million, followed by $21.74 million and $23.26 million in 2023 and 2024. There’s an option year in 2025 the 49ers tack on to the end of the contract that allows them to spread out bonus money and mitigate some of the impact of those bigger cap hits.
We’re used to seeing the 49ers put trap doors in the back of contracts that allows them to get out for relatively cheap after the first two or three years. There are no easy outs in Armstead’s deal. That was the price of having smaller cap numbers the first two years. His dead cap hits exceed $11 million in each of the first four years. His fifth year is the only real potential out with a $6.5 million dead cap hit and $16.76 million in savings.
The good news for San Francisco is the cap should see a significant jump over the life of Armstead’s deal with an additional 17th game and an expanded playoff format in the new CBA. As the salary cap expands, this five-year deal will become more manageable than it seems against the $198.2 million cap in 2020.
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