A close look at who the 49ers could cut to save salary cap space.

One-year to prove-it deals accounted for the 49ers’ premise in last year’s free agency.

That bucked their 2017-19 trend, when at least two highpriced players arrived annually at 4949 Marie P DeBartolo Way.

Some contracts bombed because of injuries, some paid off.

Luckily, the 49ers are not in salary cap jail. They don’t have much room, but surely they have enough to afford a key starter (see: left tackle Trent Williams), and they can shift others’ money if a surprise deal presents itself.

The salary cap is still not set for next Wednesday’s start of the league year. It’s expected to be around $185 million, a drop of some $25 million from what teams budgeted for pre-pandemic.

Let’s look deeper at the 49ers’ books, with the help of OverTheCap.com:

Cap space

$23.5 million (ninth-most in NFL)

POTENTIAL CUTS, WITH SPACE CREATED: >>

QB Jimmy Garoppolo $23.6 million

DE Dee Ford $5.7 million C Weston Richburg $4.5 million

G Laken Tomlinson $4 million

WR Travis Benjamin $1.08 million

OT Shon Coleman $990,000 C Jake Brendel $990,000 Some wonder if the 49ers reverse course and abandon Garoppolo, to save $23.6 million on the cap and incur only a $2.8 million dead-money hit. The more likely scenario is they roll with his current numbers or restructure his deal and convert salary into bonus money spread out over future years.

Top cap numbers

(*-Dead money if player leaves):

Jimmy Garoppolo $26.4 million (*$2.8 million)

Dee Ford $20.1 million (*$14.4 million)

Arik Armstead $12.5 million (*$28.2 million)

Weston Richburg $11.5 million (*$7 million)

Jimmie Ward $10.9 million (*$9.5 million)

Nick Bosa $9.3 million

(*$19.9 million)

Laken Tomlinson $6.6 million (*$2.6 million)

Mike McGlinchey $6 million (*$5.8 million)

George Kittle $5.4 million (*$17.9 million)

Fred Warner $3.6 million (*$252,547)

Unrestricted free agents (27)

Defensive line (7): Solomon Thomas, Kerry Hyder Jr., D.J. Jones, Ronald Blair, Dion Jordan, Ziggy Ansah, Jordan Willis

Cornerbacks (6): Richard Sherman, Jason Verrett, K’Waun Williams, Ahkello Witherspoon, Dontae Johnson, Jamar Taylor. (Restricted: Emmanuel Moseley)

Offensive line (5): Trent Williams, Ben Garland, Tom Compton, Hroniss Grasu, Tony Bergstrom. (Exclusive rights: Daniel Brunskill)

Wide receiver (3): Kendrick Bourne, Trent Taylor, Shawn Poindexter

Running backs (3): Kyle Juszczyk (FB), Tevin Coleman, Jerick McKinnon

Quarterback (1): C.J. Beathard (Restricted: Nick Mullens) Linebacker (1): Joe Walker Safety (1): Jaquiski Tartt

Franchise/transition tag

The 49ers have no viable candidates to command a franchise or transition tag. Left tackle Trent Williams would be a prime candidate to draw the one-year tender for an offensive lineman ($14.5 million), but he restructured his contract last year to eliminate the 49ers’ ability to tag him.

Tag numbers are too high to apply on fullback Kyle Juszczyk ($11.1 million), wide receiver Kendrick Bourne ($16.4 million) or any cornerback ($15.3 million).