In an article published last week by USA Today, the 2023 San Francisco 49ers actually have a chance to break the record for the most Pro Bowlers in a single season. As it stands, that number is 12. Technically speaking, the 49ers could still have 12 people named to the Pro Bowl; they just wouldn’t attend. However, the 49ers would have a much better chance of having 12 players reach the Pro Bowl if they didn’t reach the Super Bowl, because whoever represents the NFC would not be sending their players to the Pro Bowl.
The 49ers are currently $41.2 million under the league’s $224.8 million salary cap, according to NFL Players Association figures. The Cleveland Browns are next with $34 million in cap space, followed by the Arizona Cardinals with a $14 million cap cushion.
General manager John Lynch told NBC Sports Bay Area the idea with the recent restructured contracts of Arik Armstead, Trent Williams and George Kittle is to set the San Francisco 49ers up for the future. Their biggest luxury? Quarterback Brock Purdy — who is in serious contention for the 2023 NFL Offensive MVP — is the third highest-paid quarterback on the 49ers — behind Sam Darnold and Brandon Allen — and ranks 81st in the league at $934,253 a year.
If the 49ers are going to keep the nucleus of their team together, they must find a way to account for the future cap figures of Williams, Armstead, Kittle, Nick Bosa, Fred Warner, Deebo Samuel, Javon Hargrave, Christian McCaffrey, Charvarius Ward and others.
