The 49ers will have one fewer fifth-round pick during Day 3 of the draft after a CBA violation related to payroll reporting cost them a selection. San Francisco still holds a compensatory pick at No. 176 overall.
Welcome to Day 3. Yesterday, we talked about how the San Francisco 49ers had an additional third-round pick. Today, we’re going to talk about how they have one less fifth-round pick.
And this is not because of a trade.
The 49ers will have one less fifth-rounder thanks to a CBA Violation reported in 2024. In a nutshell, the NFL found some payroll accounting errors when the 2022 league year wrapped up that misreported cumulative player compensation.
This doesn’t sound like a mistake Joan in Payroll would have made. Unfortunately, we’ll never know who pressed the wrong button on the calculator. Regardless, the 49ers were docked their 2025 fifth-round draft pick via a decision in 2024.
The problem isn’t the pick itself (it’s not like their first-rounder was yanked), but the 49ers are money with their fifth-round picks. Players like George Kittle and Dre Greenlaw have been what the 49ers found in the fifth round. That part of the deal hurts. What diamond in the rough could they find this time, if you will?
This forfeiture came on the heels of some questionable compensatory picks for 2024. For… “reasons”, the 49ers didn’t get what some anticipated they’d receive in the compensatory pick department via the departure of quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo.
Another weird observation was their cap space of $5.23 million at the time. Some speculated that meant the error was inside of $5 million. Was it harsh? Probably, but that’s how things go.
It’s not like they’re missing out on the fifth round like they did the first round for so many years. One fifth-round pick remains—No. 176 overall. So there is still hope for them to find a demon of a player to raise the bar at their respective position in a year. Having only one instead of two does hurt a team like the 49ers.
Thanks, accounting.