49ers have ungodly amount of money tied up in players on injured lists

It won’t surprise you to know the San Francisco 49ers are again the most injured team across the entire NFL after just five weeks.

What might shock you is just how much money the Niners have committed to players on some sort of injury list.

Hint: It’s a lot. More than the remaining 31 other squads.

This makes a good deal of sense. All-Pro tight end George Kittle landed on injured reserve after suffering a hamstring injury in Week 1. As the highest-paid player at his position, that money is going to a star not currently on San Francisco’s 53-man roster.

And, not long ago, All-Pro defensive end Nick Bosa became the league’s highest-paid non-quarterback after his Defensive Player of the Year campaign in 2022. But his season-ending ACL tear suffered in Week 3 resulted in his massive $20-plus million cap hit for 2025 being spent on an IR player.

49ers have way more money spent on injured players than rest of NFL

OK, brace yourself. Are you ready for this?

After five weeks, the 49ers have a whopping $55.07 million currently committed to players on injury lists, which include injured reserve, the physically unable-to-perform (PUP) list and the non-football injury (NFI) list.

And, according to Over the Cap’s average-per-year data for 2025, the Niners’ APY for injured players is $97.6 million, almost $30 million more than the No. 2 team on that same list, the Miami Dolphins.

Brutal. Absolutely brutal.

And the funny thing is this doesn’t even account for quarterback Brock Purdy, who has been inactive because of a toe injury for three of the first five weeks but hasn’t landed on injured reserve. Same goes with wide receivers Jauan Jennings and Ricky Pearsall, who have been banged up but rather relegated to inactive lists rather than IR.

Oddly enough, there’s plenty of data dating back to 2012 that point to San Francisco being the most injury-prone team across the entire league, and it’s not just head coach Kyle Shanahan’s tenure impacted here.

Fortunately, at least this season, the 49ers have mostly weathered the storm to a 4-1 record and the top spot in the NFC West, often having to rely on backups and reserves to plug the gaps.

Exactly how that came to be is anyone’s guess, but it’s safe to assume most fans would rather have the Niners way down toward the middle of the pack, in terms of injuries and injury spend, instead of being far and away at the top.