© Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports
John Lynch did say he wanted to upgrade at backup quarterback. The question, then, became how on earth the 49ers would do that with a plethora of key free agents hitting the market, and shrinking cap room.
We got two answers over the last week, with a restructure of the reportedly soon-to-retire Weston Richburg saving $6.875 million in cap space, and a restructure of Dee Ford’s deal into a two-year, $24 million deal.
The restructure of Richburg’s deal netted roughly $3 million more than the 49ers would have saved with a normal roster cut, and while the details of Ford’s restructure are not yet clear, the move undoubtedly cleared a significant amount of space given his previous $20 million cap hit for 2021, and shortens the term of his deal.
What that means is the 49ers, having re-signed Emmanuel Moseley, Jason Verrett, Kyle Juszczyk, signing free agent Samson Ebukam, and with Trent Williams the remaining priority, can probably afford to be more lenient with their cap space. That likely includes targeting the center market and a backup quarterback.
Per Mike Garafolo of NFL Network, among the names the 49ers are looking at are Andy Dalton and Mitch Trubisky. They are the two of the most enticing backup options on the market, with cost the obvious issue.
According to Garafolo, Trubisky is “on their list” of quarterbacks, while they are looking at Dalton more immediately.
“The San Francisco 49ers are a strong contender right now,” Garafolo said.