The San Francisco 49ers recently re-signed defensive end Jordan Willis to a one-year deal. The team will pay him a base salary of $1.035 million and a workout bonus of $75,000 in 2022, per OverTheCap. However, he will only count $970,000 against the salary cap thanks to the NFL's "veteran salary benefit."
Each NFL team can re-sign two of its players per year while excluding up to $1.25 million of each's base salary. The benefit allows a team to offer a qualifying contract to a veteran player while absorbing a reduced salary cap hit. San Francisco opted to use the benefit on Willis.
The team also signed wide receiver and returner Ray-Ray McCloud to a two-year contract. Initially reported as a $10.4 million deal, OverTheCap has revealed the details of the contract.
McCloud will have the following salary-cap hits over the next two seasons.
2022: $1.91 million
2023: $2.09 million
The receiver will have base salaries of $1.035 million in 2022 and $1.08 million in 2023. While paid out immediately, the $1.75 million signing bonus will have $875,000 cap hits in each of the next two seasons.
All of McCloud's base salary in 2022 is guaranteed, and he will earn a $135,000 per-game roster bonus in 2023. His cap hit over the next two seasons is just $4 million, making it a much more cost-effective deal than initially reported.
The 49ers currently have about $2.094 million in salary-cap space, per OverTheCap. With nine selections in the 2022 NFL Draft, the team will need about $7.73 million to sign its draft picks.