After the big wave of free agency, the San Francisco 49ers entered the 2026 NFL draft with a ton of cap space to sign their full class and potentially make some more moves after the three-day event.
However, the 49ers felt they needed more space to work with, so they decided to make a small tweak to new defensive lineman Osa Odighizuwa’s contract. San Francisco converted $14.5 million of Odighizuwa’s salary into a signing bonus, which created an additional $11.6 million in cap space, per Spotrac.
Odighizuwa now has a $5,12 million cap hit for the 2026 season with a $1.72 million base salary, $2.91 million prorated signing bonus and $500,000 in per-game roster bonuses.
There are always some surprise players that hit the market between the conclusion of the draft and the start of the season, so their roughly $40 million in cap space, should put them in the mix for any free agent they want.
More 49ers: 49ers have huge list of players to target on Day 2 of the NFL draft
This article originally appeared on Niners Wire: 49ers create nearly $12 million in cap space on Day 1 of the NFL draft
Reporting by Mike Masala, Niners Wire / Niners Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
