Don't give up Niner Faithful! Let's play GM for a day:

Don't give up Niner Faithful! Let's play GM for a day:

Here's the plan between now and next season's kickoff. There are a lot of complicated figures because the NFL is a complicated business and contracts include signing bonuses, workout incentives, prorated bonuses, credits, and dead money. There are a lot of fancy accounting ways to survive the salary cap and avoid penalties, so just trust my numbers.

Here's what really matters: The 49ers have a lot of money, and a lot of options, and all of the departures, retirements, cuts, etc. have left a fat bank account. Also, the NFL salary cap increases in 2016 to an estimated $153,000,000.00, maybe more with the growing TV revenue.

Assumptions are that all decisions will be made before June 1, 2016, so that the season start OTC costs are a non-factor. All amounts are rounded to the nearest $10,000, anything less is nominal in the NFL. All facets of the contract are combined as they splits (base vs. workout vs. signing) are irrelevant.

Rookies, early draft picks, guaranteed contracts, and bonus credits make none sense to cut as they don't save any money. Why pay $1,000,000 to release a guy when you can pay $1,000,000 to keep him and fill the position? The only exception would be guys that are worth taking the hit on because of unacceptable behavior or performance, on or off the field.

Any players from the 2015 roster not specifically listed as Keep or Cut are designated to be cut without cost.Not all listed targets will be signed and this season's salary is not a great indicator of a contract going forward, but is informational as a reference.