In an offseason which has seen a number of defensive departures in particular, the 49ers have managed to keep a pair of key contributors on the other side of the ball in place well beyond 2025. Tight end George Kittle, and shortly thereafter, quarterback Brock Purdy have signed long-term extensions this spring. 
Many have pointed to Fred Warner as the next logical candidate for a new deal as a result. The All-Pro linebacker did not appear to be close to an agreement on that front last month, but that seems to have changed in the wake of the Kittle and Purdy pacts. Team and player are “very close” to an extension, Jennifer Lee Chan of NBC Sports Bay Area reports.
Two years remain on Warner’s current deal, a big-ticket extension he inked in 2021. None of his outstanding base salaries are guaranteed, though, and the 28-year-old is set to carry cap charges of $29.17MM and $26.71MM as things stand. Lowering those totals would be a welcomed development for San Francisco as the team’s financial outlook shifts with Purdy no longer representing a quarterback bargain. Warner’s next pact should allow him to become the league’s highest-paid linebacker once it is in place.
The top of the position’s market stands at $20MM per season as a result of the deal Roquan Smith signed shortly after being acquired via trade by the Ravens in 2023. A number of other notable extensions have been worked out since then, but Warner’s AAV ($19.05MM) still ranks second. A third 49ers pact would no doubt check in at a higher rate given the rise in the salary cap and the four-time Pro Bowler’s continued high level of play during his time in San Francisco.
Warner has recorded between 118 and 137 tackles during each of his seven years in the NFL, and with seven interceptions across the past three years he has proven to be a playmaker against the pass as well as the run. The former third-rounder will be expected to remain a foundational member of the 49ers’ defense in 2025, a year in which several starters – including fellow linebacker Dre Greenlaw – are no longer in the fold. Having missed only one game so far in his career, durability is not a concern in this case.
Recent comments made by Warner indicated he would not engage in a holdout at any point in the offseason, a positive sign with respect to the status of his contract talks. Given the latest update, it would come as no surprise for a deal to be in place in the near future.
The 49ers are about to price themselves out of contention
A pretty bad to below average oline.
Their #1 wr coming off multiple knee tears
CMC coming off injured year and aging at RB
Defense is full of younger guys, if they actually do well Saleh is getting another HC job.
oh and now paying a QB like most teams.
Lmao a pretty bad oline? wtf r u talking about lol.
They have Trent Williams and that is it.
Brendal is crap
Puni is young
don’t know the rest of the oline since they seemed to let some of the previous go.
Puni was one of the best guards in the league last year. Brendal and mckivitz are about league average, left guard I’ll give you, but they are far from pretty bad.
They will be over $50 million under the cap after the Warner deal.
They are this year. When you start signing guys to huge contracts you just keep kicking salary down the road until you turn into the Saints. If all the guys they are giving money to are old and/or injured (yes), you are going to run into a huge problem very soon unless you absolutely nail the draft year in and year out.
The draft is the underrated part here. People blame all the big contracts for the Niners being in a tricky position, but bad and/or low volume drafting is hurting their roster and cap situation a lot. You need some solid starters on rookie contracts to do well in the NFL, and from 2021-2023’s drafts, they only really got Purdy, Hufanga, and Lenoir.
This is the main issue. Their cap situation is fine, they just drafted very poorly a few years, especially in early rounds. They have to hit on multiple starters from this class.
Yeah, that Trey Lance draft day trade absolutely killed them. And those 2022 and 2023 draft classes….woof
The way they’ve invested in their skill position players has also been kind of absurd. Obviously CMC-Aiyuk-Kittle-Deebo was the greatest set of offensive weapons in football when healthy, but look at just running back for instance. They spent a 2nd, a 3rd, a 4th, and a 5th to acquire McCaffrey. OK, I was skeptical at the time of the trade, but he turned out to be great for them. Then they paid him. OK. Then last year they gave him market resetting new money when he was already the highest paid running back in football. But also since 2021, they’ve spent two 3rds, a 4th, a 5th, and a 6th on running backs who *aren’t* McCaffrey. Spending two third round picks on running backs who combine for 84 rushing attempts for your team and return nothing in trade is disastrous. They’ve also drafted a ton of receivers who never had a real shot of cracking the starting lineup. Which is one thing when you have lots of other picks, but it really starts to show when suddenly you’re short of talent on all three levels of the defense.
I think Kyle is guilty of keeping his guys a year too long. I’ve maintained Deebo should have been traded last year, and this latest cmc extension never made sense.
That is because Purdy’s deal does not go in until next year. The 50 million isn’t real.
They are giving Purdy more money this year. it’s more of a 6-year deal worth 45 million a year more than a five-year deal at 53 million a year.
I think they are bidding against themselves here. 2 years remain, Warner is one of the few valued mlb. The trend the last 3 few years has been team declining 5th year options on their drafted mlb and some being traded.
In fairness, most off-ball linebackers drafted in the first round haven’t been good during their rookie contracts. Warner is fantastic.
Just think how much money they’d have without those disastrous Aiyuk and Lennore deals
too bad they paid Aiyuk all that money. waste
You should really look at his contract, 9 million hit this year and 15 next year and then he can be dumped with a minimal dead cap hit
I wouldn’t consider a $21 million dead cap hit “minimal”
It is when you are spreading it out over 2 different seasons.
you are limited to post-June 1st cuts and if you do that – 2/3 of that hit is going on two seasons from then. By then (4 years from now) they will have dead cap hits for Kittle, McCaffrey, and all the rest of their old injured players
Kittle isn’t going to be cut. He will ride his deal out or retire. They have him set up to being a 49er legend. His cap hits are only around 5% of the cap. McCaffrey will for sure be a post June 1st cut in 2027. Aiyuk, I can actually see being a restructure/extension or a trade in 2027 if he regains his form.
Their cap situation is fine. They’re rolling over 50 million to next year, and have a lot of money coming off the books this season. Maybe they’re not big spenders in the offseason next year but this is far from a saints disaster. Just need to get back to drafting well and they’re fine.
I’m not talking about this year Steezy – If you sign a bunch of guys to huge extensions – you keep kicking their salaries down the road. So it’s not a problem in years 1 and 2 but its a major problem towards the end of those contracts. Then you have to start doing void years and all that. It’s just like a credit card bill.
When you are giving those extensions to either old or players with injury histories – that will eventually blow up in your face because then you don’t have enough $$$ to fill out your roster because all the guys out with injury are taking up all the cap. So if you don’t draft well year after year (cheap labor), it is all but guaranteed they will be stuck in purgatory. And the 49ers after drafting well for years have had awful draft classes the last few, topped by trading three 1st round picks for one Trey Lance. And those draft classes have reflected on the 49ers record and playoff finishes. They were able to stay afloat at least so far because Purdy was making less than $1 million/year. That is no longer the case. In 2027, the 49ers are going to look like the Saints (unless they again knock it out of the park in the draft 2025-2027)