The San Francisco 49ers have had a fantastic offseason thus far, returning all defensive starters and adding some players who could have some pretty significant upside. Guys like Carlos Rogers and Ahmad Brooks were given deals for continuity, while guys like Perrish Cox and Randy Moss were given a chance off the street, with some upside (for the future for the former, and for 2012 in regards to the latter) to work with.
Then there's the signing of Mario Manningham and the new contract for Alex Smith - all moves to promote continuity and also to get better. San Francisco keeps being patient, and they keep getting great players for great prices, and it's looking like Trent Baalke is going to work out in the long term in the general manager role. Paraag Marathe also likely has a lot of job security, handling those contracts like it's nobody's business.
Jason LaCanfora of the NFL Network recently posted on each team's salary cap situation, with up-to-the-day numbers in regards to what their total cap is and how much is remaining, among other things. His numbers for the 49ers are below:
San Francisco 49ers
Current contracts: 48
Previous year carryover: $16,500,000.00
Adjustments: $982,519.00
Adjusted cap: $138,082,519.00
Team cap: $132,780,988.00
Cap room: $5,301,531.00
Team cash: $111,944,916.00
The emphasis on cap room is mine - you'll notice it's significantly less than in recent years. That doesn't mean that the 49ers are suddenly paying their players yes. It means they've taken this opportunity to pay a lot of players - namely Patrick Willis, who has a cap hit of over $17 million for 2012.
Still, it's good to see that the 49ers have that much left over - the easily accounts for their draft picks, and still has room to grow on the chance that they get longer deals done for someone like Dashon Goldson or Justin Smith, not to mention the fact that San Francisco probably won't carry two long snappers on the roster. They've got much less cap room than in recent years, but really, they're in a much, much better place.