From a football perspective, releasing Kyle Juszczyk and re-signing him four days later made no sense. But from a financial perspective, the move also made no sense. So why did the 49ers do it?
From a football perspective, releasing Kyle Juszczyk and re-signing him four days later made no sense. But from a financial perspective, the move also made no sense.
So why did the 49ers do it?
A day before the 49ers released Juszczyk, they signed blocking tight end Luke Farrell to a three-year deal worth an average of almost $7 million annually. That’s more money than Juszczyk gets paid, which means the 49ers will use more two-tight-end formations and phase out the fullback position going forward.
In addition, when the 49ers released Juszczyk on March 11, they took on a dead-cap penalty of $3.6 million. That’s cap space the 49ers can’t use this season. Then the 49ers re-signed him to a new deal that’s only $600,000 cheaper than the old one. And to afford it, the 49ers had to trade 25-year-old running back Jordan Mason to the Vikings. That’s quite a price to pay to save $600,000.
Keep in mind, Juszczyk is 33, he will turn 34 in April and he’s declining. The 49ers probably couldn’t trade him and his contract if they tried, so why did they do all of this?
You have to remember that Juszczyk and his wife are extremely close with Christian McCaffrey, George Kittle and their wives. They vacation together. And when Juszczyk got released, Kittle’s wife posted and deleted a screenshot of a FaceTime call between the Kittles and the Juszczyks in which both couples looked stunned.
Then when Juszczyk re-signed with the 49ers, both Kittle’s wife and McCaffrey’s wife wrote celebratory posts on Instagram.
I don’t know what happened behind the scenes, but it sure seems like two of the 49ers’ most powerful players and their significant others called in a favor.
