After veteran wide receiver Pierre Garçon’s production fell off dramatically and his season ended on injured reserve for a second consecutive season, the odds were low the 49ers would pick up his option for the 2019 season.
The 49ers will make the expected move and not pick up the option on Garçon’s contract, the NFL Network reported on Thursday.
Garçon, 32, was scheduled to make $6 million in salary and bonuses this season. Instead of his scheduled salary cap figure of $8.275 million, he will count $7.2 million against the cap in “dead money,” according to overthecap.com.
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The total cap savings for the 49ers amounts to $505,000, but the 49ers do not have any future salary commitments to Garçon. Only the top 51 salaries count against the salary cap in the offseason, so after the savings of $1.075 million from the move to part ways with Garçon, the next player salary to move into the top 51 counts $570,000 against the 49ers’ cap.
Garçon appeared in 16 games for the 49ers over the past two seasons after the club signed him to a five-year, $47.5 million contract ($17 million of which was fully guaranteed) on the first day of free agency in 2017.
He caught 40 passes for 500 yards in eight games in 2017 before a neck injury sidelined him for the remainder of the season, Garçon managed just 24 receptions for 286 yards and one touchdown in eight games last season before undergoing season-ending knee surgery.
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San Francisco 49ers
Garçon previously played for Washington and Indianapolis. In 148 career games (131 starts), Garçon has 628 career catches for 7,854 yards and 38 touchdowns. He is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent on March 13.