How 49ers Are Gaining A Salary Cap Advantage

Rams fans are fortunate to watch a breeding ground of football innovation with the Los Angeles Rams. Sean McVay and Les Snead are almost always at the cutting edge of trends around the NFL, which is why it is a mild surprise that other teams in the NFC West could find an advantage over them in terms of team building.

But that’s exactly what is happening with the San Francisco 49ers and their propensity to procure injury insurance in order to protect future cap space. San Francisco’s approach is having a great effect on the 2026 offseason: they’ve added a $20.7M gain which ranks second in the league behind the Tennessee Titans.

In the same measure the Rams gained $7.5M which can likely be attributed to the retirement of Darious Williams, who had one year left on his contract and was a likely cap casualty anyways.

Salary cap insurance purchases are not disclosed outside of the gain at the start of the offseason. The premiums range from 2.5% to 6.5% of the insured contract value, so teams that pull these levers do need to credit their ownership and organization for their willingness to spend extra cash for future benefit.

This also goes without saying: the 49ers’ recent rash of injuries plays a key role in the amount of cap space they are able to recover. The Rams might also be purchasing this insurance but their highest paid player largely stayed healthy this season, outside of Davante Adams who missed the end of the regular season with a hamstring injury.

The injuries that likely contributed to the $20M+ gain in 2026 were Nick Bosa (lost in Week 3 to ACL; $7M), Fred Warner, George Kittle, and Mykel Williams.

The slew of injuries comes amidst a popular theory that an electrical substation next to the 49ers’ practice facility could be the source of their recent troubles. This has been acknowledged by the team, players, and the NFL. Perhaps San Francisco would be better served paying to move the substation rather than procuring injury insurance for their players, but at least in terms of salary cap space their bets are paying off.