49ers GM explains why team isn't likely to make another bold trade-deadline move

San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch is not afraid to make bold moves, and especially when it comes to the NFL trade deadline. 

It was just last year that he landed running back Christian McCaffrey in a blockbuster deal with the Carolina Panthers in an effort to put his team over the top.

Just do not expect that sort of move this year even the 49ers are still swimming in available salary cap space.

The reason — they can roll that salary cap space over to next season and continue to give themselves maximum salary cap flexibility in future years. That can be important for a team that has its sights set on being a consistently dominant team and Super Bowl contender for multiple years. 

The 49ers still have more than $41M in available salary cap space this season, which is a staggering amount for a team as good as they are with as many high priced players as they have.

A lot of that space has been created with recent salary restructures for established players.

As Lynch puts it, the 49ers are always looking three years in advance and looking to be a sustainably good team with the ability to keep its own home grown stars.

In other words, do not expect them to have a Los Angeles Rams style 'all-in" type of season where they mortgage their future for one or two runs at a Super Bowl. They are going for the long haul.

There is a lot to be said for that sort of approach.

For one, it gives the 49ers the freedom on future years to keep the players it wants to keep without having to make other cuts on the roster. 

San Francisco has some big contracts coming due in future years (like, say, quarterback Brock Purdy) and when you give yourself that wiggle room it makes it a lot easier to keep them.

It also leaves the door open for the team to make a hold move from outside of the opportunity presents itself like it did last year with McCaffrey or this past offseason with defensive lineman Javon Hargrave. 

Lynch acknowledged that things could change before the deadline depending on who is available, but given the depth of the 49ers roster and the number of assets it has traded in recent years (for McCaffrey and the failed move for quarterback Trey Lance) it really does seem likely that San Francisco will be content to roll that salary cap space over for future years and go with the roster it has.

It is not hard to fault them for that.

They not only have a roster capable of winning it all this season, they also have themselves set up for a long-term window for Super Bowl contention.