49ers will be forced to cut Greenlaw, Juszczyk, and trade Aiyuk?

Larry Krueger says the 49ers will have to make some difficult decisions as they come up against the NFL’s salary cap this offseason. Will the have to cut Dre Greenlaw and Kyle Juszczyk? Possibly trade Brandon Aiyuk? Krueger explains with Marc Grandi on Willard & Dibs.

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On the crossover along with steiny and Evan uh you said that you felt like the Niners are at least going to seriously consider trading Brandon auk this off season because of the cap situation because of auk uh reportedly being frustrated uh with the 49ers because of

Uh the other holes on the roster the Warriors can get um high high draft pick back most likely in return what did I say you said Warriors The Warriors I’ve been on the Warriors the 49ers can get a a big first round pick back in return for him uh you

Actually think that’s a realistic possibility this offseason the Niners moving off of an all pro wide receiver a young one at that I know well the Niners Situation’s interesting too because they have their own cap you know we’re talking about the Warriors and and their cap situation oh they’re in cap hell too

Aren’t they the Niners head into this off season they’re about 7 and A5 million over the projected cap um partly due to 55 million of leftover Trey Lance dead money that they can’t do anything about so you know they and if they did an extension for iuk right now that

Would help their cap situation it would spread out his money he’s due to make 14 million uh 14.1 in his fifth year option uh which would also be his cap number for this year so if they can extend him that would drop his 2024 cap number

Maybe from 14 million to like 4 million I mean they they could drop it by that much the problem is is that you look around the league and it’s been really tough for teams to find common ground with their star wide receivers um you and and Justin Jefferson CD lamb Michael

Pitman Jr T Higgins none of these guys have really signed big money long-term deals yet and we’ve you know the Niners I think they have options they can restructure Trent Williams he makes 31.5 they can reduce him they Say by as much as 17 and rework that Debo has got a cap

Number of 28.6 they could reduce that as much by as much as 15 million but then you’re extending you know when when you reduce a guy’s cap figure you’re guaranteeing him money into the future usually extending his deal and I don’t know that they want to do that with Debo so you

Know this is going to be a very difficult uh situation for the 49ers I think they’re going to probably wind up cutting Kyle Houston check I think that’s probably very very likely there’s a chance they’re going to wind up cutting Dre green law uh which is not

What I want to see but that that potentially could happen yeah and if they can’t reach an cutting Dre green law cutting Dre green law I hate to say it but it could happen um and if the 49ers can’t reach an agreement with Brandon on an extension they are going to wind up

Having to trade him and they would save the four the full 14.1 won on his 2024 salary um and we’ve seen this move before AJ Brown and other receivers have found their way into the trade market Tyreek Hill there’s a Tyreek Hill there’s a great um article out today on

ESPN Grandy by Dan Graziano and Graziano says the most likely outcome is he says the most likely way this shakes out is auk ends up getting traded to a team where he’s the clear number one WI out where he can get the extension he wants and that would leave the ners to draft

His replacement in the first round this year so well if the if the ners trade iuk do you I feel like they shouldn’t be draft I mean I guess they could draft a wide receiver in the first round but I mean they’ve got holes that they would

Need to fill elsewhere as well and feel like you could use uh what you get for auk to maybe pick a right tackle or or defensive lineman or another corner or I don’t know but um it’s hard to imagine them um you know replacing him in the

Draft in the first round I agree with you because of what you just said all those needs it’s also really hard to Envision them paying you know $50 million to Debo and nauk when they’re 32 in the league in in pass attempts I mean nobody passes less than the ners so

You’re going to you’re going to commit that much to your receivers I don’t know I I I I would you know I love auk I’d rather move move off a Debo than iuk but um auk’s clearly going to fetch more so you know maybe the New York Giants are

Going to have some interest they have the six pick in the draft uh Terry um uh the Raiders have the 13th pick in the draft they’re probably likely very interested uh you know Kansas City is looking for a veteran wide receiver there’s probably a couple other teams

Buffalo couple of teams that will be looking for for wide receivers so it’s just a matter matter of you know can they it’s kind of like the green law the the U Buckner kinlaw deal where they had to kind of decide between Buckner and Armstead and they chose Armstead and

Move Buckner for kinlaw I think in this situation since they’ve already they have Jan he’s restricted uh they just signed Debo to an extension I I think it’s going to be very difficult for them to keep auk I really do so and I think what you brought up four years ago was

The to trade Armstead or to trade Buckner resign Armstead because Armstead was going to he made less you could sign him for less then you were going to pay uh they also signed Jimmy Ward as part of that so and then you got a draft pick

That you used to replace that guy and that has largely been thought of as a bad decision so I feel like uh the 49ers making that move four years ago that’s fresh in their mind still and the Niners are not that was really the only time where a guy they’ve drafted who turned

Into a stud that they didn’t resign like in this era that’s the that’s the only one uh because you know you have Bosa you have KD you have Debo you have all these guys now auka is next in line uh Buckner was the one that didn’t get the

Big deal a guy that you hand picked has been a Niner their whole career uh and then it comes time to pay them and they decided against it because many reasons um you want it was Buckner had hired Joel seagull who was kind of like the

Boris football agent and it wasn’t a one forone deal it wasn’t you know he also allowed you to get Jimmy Ward back and all of that I get it but the ners have never been in the business of trading away all pro talent and I feel like the

Last time they did it it it bit them in the backside and and they don’t do not want to have that feeling once again yeah well the the problem is is that great players are are acquired through draft picks but people only think of of they don’t think about the failure rate

In in draft picks right so yeah you know you got Forest Buckner with a top 10 pick and you traded him a few years later for a a pick that was also in the middle of the first round that was okay but then you took Javon kinlaw and

Kinlaw hasn’t become to Forest Buckner no so you had a decent year this year he had a decent year this year and he’s a good dude but I mean it just that you know it just it it’s it’s you that’s why I feel like if they move auk they have

To get more than one pick because you don’t know if you’re going to hit on those picks and then the question is this if let’s just say the New York Giants were willing to give you the six pick in the draft and you were sitting

There now on the clock at 6 and the Giants have Brandon auk okay what do you do do you take Malik neighbors a wide receiver and try to replace the wide receiver you just lost or do you use that you know six pick in the draft to

Take you know Joe Al or fashanu or one of these offensive tackles where you have a severe need and usually the tackles go in the first half of the first round so it’s it’s going to be and then you know Jerry Rice’s kid is in

This draft uh Brandon um or I should say Christian McCaffrey’s brother um the receiver at rice is in this draft you know there are some receivers that I think the forars would probably like to have that will not be in the first round uh and maybe so maybe they’ll go

Offensive tackle in the first round and try to get Rice’s kid in the third round or something like that but is Jerry Rice’s kid I like him and he was good at SC but he’s not auk you know what I mean’s he’s not Brandon auk and and you

It would be really tough to look Brock pie in the eye and say hey by the way uh we want you to be better this year than last year but we’re taking away your number one in cut you know your in route you know he throws a lot of in Breaking

Routes to Wu they have such a great chemistry great chemistry yeah so it’s like and then whatever receiver you get even if you think Malik neighbors is better than iuk he still hasn’t built that chemistry with perie so it’s going to take some time it just feels like when you still

Have Brock pie on this team incredibly Team friendly deal one more year that a year from now you can start negotiating it right a year from now you can it won’t take effect for another year after that but you can you can start negotiating it a year from now uh it

Almost feels like the Niners they they just got to get through the next couple of years and give it their best shot which is why the timing of this potential iuk trade to be so frustrating because you still have the Brock pie the friendliest contract in all the sports

Like the the biggest uh like trump card in all the sports we’ve got an allp Pro quarterback who’s making $800,000 a year and it allows us to keep all these other players and then you consider if you have to make a move like that trading

Auk to get off of some money and to keep the team around then what happens when pry comes due for a contract how does the roster shake out then I know that’s a few years down the road and you know KD is getting up there and Trent

Williams maybe he’s retired by then all of that and it opens things up but if they’re having this much trouble keeping this Talent together now what happens when pry do 35 million a year or whatever the number ends up being a year from now yeah no I mean that’s why that

That’s where the urgency comes from you talk about the 49ers have showed all this urgency this year yeah because they know it’s coming the clock is ticking and they’ve got a deep loaded roster with a quarterback on a rookie deal and they’re desperately trying to climb that Super Bowl Mountain while

They have the quarterback on the rookie deal even just talking to some of the 49er people were they committed to Trey Lance no they were never really committed to Trey Lance what they were committed to was a quarterback on the rookie deal a young cheap quarterback

Yeah because they saw what their Ro they they they put together they did a little exercise and they did their roster with a $2 million quarterback when they were considering you know picking up Aaron Rodgers or cousins or any of these other veterans they yeah Brady then they’re

Putting that next to the roster that they can assemble if they have a quarterback on a rookie deal whether it bet treay in this case it was Brock and that that’s what they’re committed to you know and they’ve got one more year of that so it makes their decisions this

Offseason you know I mean not that they aren’t weren’t urgent before but they’re incredibly urgent because if they’re going to get this done before PR’s contract explodes it’s got to happen this year next year which is what made this Super Bowl loss so difficult to swallow because you had everything set

Up for you and you you didn’t have to face any of these questions until now and pry played well I mean there was a big question going into the Super Bowl I know um you know there were lots of people that were concerned would the moment be too big for Mr Irrelevant it

Was not and it wasn’t it wasn’t and that was the that was the positive takeaway from Super Bowl Sunday was that is that the ners know they’ve got a guy who can operate in that game now I know skip bis is going crazy today taking Shanahan and

Uh and perie behind the Woodshed and just crapping on all all over them but I think that perie kind of proved that the moment wasn’t too big and that they got the right guy now Shanahan’s got to fulfill his side of the deal I thought Shanahan um made some questionable

Decisions I didn’t like getting away from the run so on and so forth I think we’ve beaten them up a little too much on taking the ball in overtime um there’s a great stat out today from a guy who crunched all the numbers saying that you know it’s basically the same

Chances of winning whether you go first or second um and so maybe that was a little bit overblown as far as all the criticism Shanahan’s gotten but he did you know three Super Bowls now he’s fallen gotten a little pass happy and gotten away from the run and and they

Did it this year with mcaffrey who’s a what MVP of the league almost yeah offense Player of the Year and an MVP finalist yeah and he didn’t get I I think nearly as many touches specifically runs as I thought he should in that third quarter alone uh maybe a a

Trade of auk it signifies uh belief in Brock pie that you know this is a quarterback who can do it without all the Elite Talent around him offensively who knows it’s going to be an interesting off season we can get more into that