49ers have pushed more cap hits into void years than almost any team
The 49ers are leaning on void years to keep their salary cap space lean, pushing more than $150M in dead money into the future.
Adding void years to contracts is a trending move by teams nowadays to spread out signing bonus money over a number of years to lessen the salary cap burden for a particular player deal. It has it's pros and cons, mainly that it creates short-term financial flexibility but opens up long-term issues down the line. The idea is even more valuable when you consider how much the salary cap has risen in recent years, as explained in this chart from The San Francisco Standard's David Lombardi.
As Lombardi alluded to, the San Francisco 49ers have been one of the more active teams utilizing this concept. The 49ers have the sixth-most salary cap space tied to void years over the next six seasons, according to data from Over The Cap via @sfdata9ers on X. The 49ers have $164 million in cap space connected to void years, including $30.
8 million in 2027 (fifth in the league that year), $27 million in 2028, $67. 5 million in 2029 (second-most in the league that year), $27. 3 million in 2030, $11 million in 2031 and none in 2032.
NFL Teams With the Most Cap Space Pushed Into Future Void Years 1. PHI - $474M (incl. $249M in 2029) 2.