The San Francisco 49ers are having a busy time on the contract front.
After signing Brandon Aiyuk to a four-year, $120 million extension , the 49ers are close to finalizing a reworked deal with All-Pro left tackle Trent Williams to end his lengthy contract holdout.
With Williams' holdout having been born of a desire for guaranteed money, owner Jed York will seemingly soon be paying some more money upfront after last week agreeing to give Aiyuk $47 million between then and April 1.
As was the case with Aiyuk, the reworked Williams deal will likely lower the 49ers' 2024 cap, and they got some more relief in that regard on Tuesday.
Defensive tackle Maliek Collins agreed to restructure his contract. ESPN's Field Yates was the first to report the news, with Spotrac then adding further details.
Collins had a cap number of $8.47 million with $6 million guaranteed in 2024.
San Francisco converted $6.79 million of his 2024 salary into a signing bonus and also added three void years onto the deal, with the bonus prorating across the two remaining years of his contract and those void years.
The restructure frees up $5.432 million of 2024 cap space for the 49ers, giving them a league-high $50.5 million of room heading into Week 1.
As such, the 49ers are now in an extremely comfortable position to not only finalize the Williams deal, but also make the kind of all-in trade for which they have become known during the season.
The additional cap space will also be useful in the 49ers being able to carry it over to next year, when San Francisco will have the small matter of a Brock Purdy extension to hammer out.
With the Purdy negotiation on the horizon, the accepted school of thought has been that his contract will make it harder for the 49ers to keep their star-studded roster together.
Moves like Collins' restructure increase the Niners' financial flexibility in what could be a challenging 2025 offseason for the franchise and improve their odds of keeping pending free agents around.
The 49ers dealt for Collins to replace Arik Armstead after their previously longest-tenured player understandably refused to take a pay cut as part of a proposed restructure.
That situation came about as a result of the 49ers' desire to give themselves more room for maneuver this offseason. The restructure of Collins buys them freedom for the present moment and for the future.
San Francisco has the best roster in the league and the most cap space for the season. It hasn't been an easy offseason for the 49ers by any stretch, but they end it in a position teams across the league will envy.
Related: Christian McCaffrey follows Trent Williams in giving 49ers significant reason to enjoy their breakfast
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