AsylumGuido

For anyone thinking it is so easy to manage a cap, check this out. The Niners lose a 2025 pick and have their 2024 4th rounder moved to the end of the round for a violation.

SmashMouth

Prolly more indicative of either complete buffoonery or an intentional attempt to circumvent the rules.

AsylumGuido

The mistake they made wouldn't have circumvented the cap itself according to the articles I've read, but were more on the side of faulty reporting. It still cost them dearly. A true cap violation is far more punitive, I believe.

BakoSaint

I don't think we know what a true cap violation would entail because I don't think it has never happened before. Beyond loss of draft picks and fines, a key provision is that if a team exceeds the salary cap the NFL can terminate contracts to bring them into compliance.

Terminating a veteran contract might not work, because many veterans had big signing bonuses that would cause dead cap hits and actually worsen compliance, so it would have to be a player who is either on their rookie contract in a non-guaranteed year or a veteran nearing the end of their contract whose deal has not been restructured and thus carries little dead cap.

In theory if the 49ers had accidently exceeded the salary cap the NFL could have found some late round draft pick whose salary was not guaranteed, had a minimal signing bonus, and was mostly paid in base salary, and terminated their contract to bring the 49ers into compliance. For example the 49ers have a player named Brock Purdy who has a base salary of $985,000 but would generate a dead cap hit of only $38,506 if cut, so had the 49ers exceeded the cap, the league could have released Brock Purdy from their roster to save them about $950,000 instantly. If the Saints exceeded the salary cap, Adebo could be a good target for the league, as he carries a $3.4 million base salary and only $0.25 million dead cap.