Will Carlos Rogers Be A San Francisco 49ers Cap Casualty?

By Lucas Carreras @maldini3fan on January 27, 2014

During the offseason one of the things teams must do is evaluate and analyze potential players who they deem are worthy of keeping around, but at a lower salary. The San Francisco 49ers have entered this 2014 offseason no different than any other team in this regard and one player whose salary cap number makes him very expendable is cornerback Carlos Rogers.

The nine-year NFL veteran has spent the last three seasons with the 49ers and after a great 2011 season, which saw him intercept six passes and get named to the Pro Bowl, the last two seasons have been solid but nowhere near what he had in his first season with the 49ers. At the end of the 2013 season, Rogers missed the first two playoff games as a result of a hamstring injury and was the nickle cornerback in the 49ers’ NFC Championship loss to the Seattle Seahawks.

With this in mind, one must seriously contemplate if Carlos Rogers is a player worth keeping for the 2014 season. For the 2014 season, the 49ers would stand to have a cap hit of over $8 million if they decided to keep Rogers on the squad. If Rogers was coming off a season like the one he had during the 2011 season, it could be justified that he might be worth keeping around at that number or at the very minimum, renegotiating with the player to have him stay at a cap friendly number.

Three factors work against Rogers and as a result, make Rogers a player whom is expendable and a player who should be a cap casualty. The first is that during the season, the 49ers saw the emergence of nickle corner Tramaine Brock who became a starter in the playoffs for the 49ers. Brock signed a new long term deal, so the 49ers are assured at least one starting cornerback will come back for the 2014 season. In addition to Brock, the 49ers have another cornerback who is an upcoming free agent in Tarrell Brown. Brown, who was the No. 2 cornerback and became the No. 1 when Rogers got injured, will be a free agent and resigning him will be of utmost importance for the 49ers front office.

The third and final factor in justifying and expecting for Rogers to be a cap casualty is that at the end of the season, he could be said to be the third best cornerback on the team. It was clear that Brock and Brown were better cornerbacks than Rogers and with Rogers getting hurt and being relegated to the nickle cornerback role at the end of the season, paying $8 million for that role is not practical. Throw in that Rogers will be 33 come the start of the 2014 season and it becomes clear that Carlos Rogers is and should be an expendable cap casualty.

Lucas Carreras is a contributing San Francisco 49ers and Soccer writer for www.RantSports.com. You can follow Lucas on Twitter by following him @maldini3fan and you can add him to your network on Google.