Mike Iupati Unlikely To Be Back With The 49ers Next Season?

Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee mentioned during a recent chat session that it’s “very unlikely” veteran G Mike Iupati will be back with the 49ers next season.

Barrows believes it would be easier for the 49ers to re-sign Alex Boone, who is currently holding out for a new contract that offer Iupati the kind of money he could be looking for.

This isn’t the first time that the topic of Iupati possibly not returning to San Francisco has come up.

Barrows previously mentioned that Iupati was in a position to possibly end up as the highest-paid guard in the league after testing the open market.

As of now, Carl Nicks is the highest paid guard in the NFL with an average salary of $9.5 million. He signed a five-year, $47.5 million contract that included $31 million guaranteed with the Buccaneers in 2012.

San Francisco has a number of key players to address outside of Iupati including WR Michael Crabtree, LT Joe Staley, and possibly OLB Aldon Smith, but currently have a little over $5.9 million in available cap space to work with.

The team could always attempt to groom Daniel Kilgore, Marcus Martin or Brandon Thomas to be a long-term replacement for Iupati.

In 2013, Iupati was rated as the No. 35 guard in the league, according to Pro Football Focus. He held up pretty well as a run-blocker, but he was just as bad when it came to pass-protecting.