Last year, Kyle Juszczyk had to take a significant pay cut just to stay on the 49ers. This year, they may not offer him a pay cut. Instead, they simply could release him.
Juszczyk will turn 34 in April. And next season will be the final year of his contract. He currently has zero guaranteed money left on it, which means they could release him and not pay him another dime. In addition, his salary cap number will be roughly $6.5 million in 2025, which means he will have the 10th-highest cap hit on the team behind only Fred Warner, George Kittle, Trent Williams, Nick Bosa, Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk, Leonard Floyd, Yetur Gross-Matos and Christian McCaffrey.
That means Juszczyk will have a higher cap hit than starting right tackle Colton McKivitz and start center Jake Brendel. Clearly, Juszczyk is better than those two players. But fullback is far less important than center and right tackle because those positions protect the quarterback and the fullback does not.
Juszczyk essentially is a miniature-pulling guard who occasionally catches a pass. The 49ers can’t afford to dedicate cap space to his skill set anymore. They need to seriously invest in their offensive line to protect the massive investment they’re going to make in Brock Purdy.
By releasing Juszczyk, the 49ers would create nearly $3 million in cap space. More importantly, they would create opportunities for younger, better players to get on the field and make plays.
