49ers

49ers Still Expected To Release WR Stevie Johnson

March 9, 2015

Update:

It’s been a few days since reports mentioned that the 49ers were parting ways with WR Stevie Johnson.

According to Dianna Marie Russini, San Francisco is expected to release Johnson at some point in the near future. Russini adds that Johnson won’t be unemployed very long.

According to OverTheCap.com, releasing Johnson would free up $6,025,000 in available cap space while creating no dead money.

We’ll have more updates as news is available.

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Dianna Marie Russini reiterates that 49ers WR Stevie Johnson has no intention of taking a pay cut and will be released at some point in the near future.

Russini has remained adamant throughout the day that San Francisco will be releasing Johnson, even though others have said that the team could approach him about reworking his current agreement.

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Ian Rapoport of NFL Media is now reporting that “a pay cut looms” for 49ers WR Stevie Johnson.

According to Rapoport, Johnson is one of QB Colin Kaepernick‘s favorite players, so him being back with the team could come down to his willingness to reduce his current salary of $5.5 million.

Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk reports that the 49ers have yet to officially ask Johnson to take a pay cut.

Florio doesn’t rule out the possibility that San Francisco could elect to release him outright without even approaching him about reworking his current agreement. However, the most likely scenario right now is that Johnson will be asked to take less next next season.

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Dianna Marie Russini reports that the 49ers are expected to release veteran WR Stevie Johnson.

Johnson, 28, still had two years remaining on his five-year, $36.25 million contract that included $18.05 million guaranteed. He would have made base salaries of $5.5 million and $5.85 million over the final two years of the agreement.

In 2014, Johnson appeared in 13 games and caught 35 passes for 435 yards receiving and three touchdowns for the 49ers. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 22 receiver out of 110 qualifying players, which is pretty good considering that he only played 305 snaps.