Following a disappointing 2024 season, the San Francisco 49ers have an intriguing offseason ahead of them. With several lucrative contract extensions looming, the 49ers will prioritize salary management, forcing them to compile a list of cut candidates in the 2025 NFL offseason.
Despite a surplus of sizeable contracts on their roster, the 49ers enter the offseason with moderate cap space. They are projected to have over $40 million in space to work with in free agency, ranking near the middle of the league.
Still, with the roster moves general manager John Lynch has ahead of him, $40 million in cap space will evaporate with a single move. The 49ers have already begun negotiating with Brock Purdy, whose upcoming extension will likely make him one of the highest-paid quarterbacks in the league. The former Mr. Irrelevant is currently making just over $900,000 per year. The difference between his two contracts will hit San Francisco like a storm.
With some predicting Purdy's annual salary will be north of $40 million, the 49ers are forced to make room for such a deal. They already owe Nick Bosa, Brandon Aiyuk, George Kittle, Fred Warner, Deommodore Lenoir, Deebo Samuel and others hefty paychecks over the next few years. Nobody doubts the legitimacy of those deals, but one team can only afford so much. Therefore, before Lynch can even send Purdy an offer, he has to move at least one of his high-priced veterans.
Just two years removed from an NFC championship, the 49ers will be among the most active teams in the 2025 NFL offseason.
WR Deebo Samuel

With how his last two seasons have gone, Deebo Samuel has been involved in near-constant trade rumors. At the end of the year, Lynch told reporters he would not trade Samuel, but that does not give him any more job security. Samuel might not be traded, but despite his decorated tenure with the team, he is still one of the 49ers' top cut candidates in the 2025 NFL offseason.
Two years into his current extension, Samuel has one year remaining on the three-year, $71.5 million contract he signed in 2022. Since he inked that deal, he has played some of the worst games of his career. Everything culminated with an injury-riddled, drop-filled 2024 campaign in which he posted a career-low 44.7 receiving yards per game. At 29, Samuel is owed over $20 million in his final year in 2025.
While his production was not encouraging, veteran Jauan Jennings and rookie Ricky Pearsall's simultaneous emergence was even more detrimental to Samuel's career. Despite playing all but two games in 2024, Samuel finishes just third on the team with 670 receiving yards despite top wideout Brandon Aiyuk missing practically the entire season. Of the 10 games he played with Pearsall, Samuel topped 50 receiving yards just three times.
It is too early to say that Samuel is behind Pearsall in the pecking order; he has seemingly fallen behind Jennings. Once Aiyuk returns in 2025, that would make him Purdy's No. 3 option at best. With the 49ers in money-saving mode, Lynch might find it hard to justify paying his third-best pass-catcher $20 million in 2025, regardless of name value. If San Francisco decides to move on, they will look to trade Samuel first, but if not, he will become a leading cut candidate.
DE Yetur Gross-Matos

The 49ers' hefty investments in their offense have not led to many big contracts on the defensive side. Led by Fred Warner's $95.5 million deal, they are still responsible for more than most teams. One of the most surprising high-value contracts on their records is edge rusher Yetur Gross-Matos.




In their search for a complementary pass-rusher to Nick Bosa, the 49ers signed Leonard Floyd and Gross-Matos in 2024. The moves gave San Francisco three experienced defensive ends to rotate around, with young talents Robert Beal Jr. and Drake Jackson providing depth. The investment worked in 2024, but before the 2025 NFL offseason, it might be in the 49ers' best interest to let one of Floyd or Gross-Matos go. The numbers suggest Floyd is the more efficient player, making Gross-Matos the odd man out.
In 11 games, Gross-Matos recorded four sacks, the second-most of his career. He found a lot of success as a weak-side power rusher but not as much as Floyd, who notched 8.5 sacks. At 32, Floyd is the older player, but proved to be still more efficient. With Robert Saleh returning to the team as defensive coordinator in 2025, Floyd is also the better fit in his defense.
After four years with the Carolina Panthers, Gross-Matos signed a two-year, $18 million contract with the 49ers in 2024. The move was puzzling at the time and still does not make much sense one year later. It made him the seventh-highest-paid player on the team's defense, and a reserve one at that. Considering Bosa's injury history, the 49ers are wise to invest in their pass-rushing depth, but they can find other options both cheaper and more efficient than Gross-Matos in the 2025 NFL offseason.
FB Kyle Juszczyk

Of the notable veterans on the 49ers' roster, Kyle Juszczyk has the smallest contract, with just roughly $4.5 million owed to him in 2025. However, compared to the general fullback market, Juszczyk is easily the highest-paid player of the position.
Historically, Kyle Shanahan has had an affinity for fullbacks, and Juszczyk has typically been his guy. Few fullbacks are available in the modern NFL, much less those with the diversity Juszczyk provides. Regardless, Juszczyk will turn 34 in April, making him one of the oldest skill players in the league.
Even at his advanced age, it is not as if Juszczyk's performance has noticeably declined. If Shanahan had his way, Juszczyk would likely be a permanent fixture on the 49ers' roster. Still, with the rise of San Francisco's young weapons, the veteran captain's role has increasingly reduced in recent years.
Despite being on the field for nearly half of the 49ers' offensive snaps in 2024, Juszczyk recorded just 226 scrimmage yards. The tally was on par with his career status quo, but his overall usage and per-game usage took a dip. One of Shanahan's favorite ways to utilize Juszczyk is as a hybrid tight end, but he slowly lost snaps in that role to Eric Saubert.
Given the size of his contract, Juszczyk would be one of the easiest veterans to release from a practical standpoint. It would just be a difficult move for the organization and fan base to move on from its beloved veteran.