49ers: Tom Compton assured a roster spot, starting role in jeopardy

The San Francisco 49ers have restructured offensive lineman Tom Compton’s contract.

The San Francisco 49ers made an interesting financial move on Friday restructuring the contract of offensive lineman Tom Compton.

As first reported by ESPN’s Field Yates, the 49ers and Compton agreed to a reworked contract which includes base salary cut of $1.10 million as his salary dropped from $2.15 million to $1.05 million.

In doing so, the veteran offensive lineman was likely ensured a roster spot with added bonuses and guaranteeds added to his contract. However, it likely means more than that.

As Yates indicated, this likely means that Compton will begin the year as a backup lineman. It’s incredibly uncommon for a projected starter to take a pay cut and seeing as though Compton didn’t blow anyone away in camp, it’s fair to assume he won’t be starting come Week 1.

The 49ers signed Compton back in April reuniting him with head coach Kyle Shanahan who served as Compton’s offensive coordinator during their time together in Washington.

The 49ers expected Tom Compton to compete for the starting right guard job.

The expectation was that Compton would compete for the starting right guard job in the summer and provide some additional veteran depth to the offensive line.

And throughout camp, Compton saw the vast majority of first-team reps at right guard. However, much of this was due to the fact that his main competition, Daniel Brunskill, was busy playing center due to the team’s injuries there.

Starter Weston Richburg isn’t expected to be ready for Week 1 as he continues to rehab his torn patellar tendon he suffered last December. Meanwhile, backup Ben Garland has been dealing with an ankle injury throughout camp.

Garland’s status for Week 1 remains uncertain and we’ll likely get a better idea of the 49ers’ plans next week. But for now, assuming Garland is healthy, Brunskill figures to start at right guard come the beginning of the regular season.

If Garland can’t go, it’s likely the 49ers will slide Brunskill back to center giving Compton the start at right guard. But while it remains unofficial, it sure seems as though Brunskill is the projected starter at right guard barring injury.

Now with around $10 million in cap space, could the 49ers make a move for someone like Jadeveon Clowney? It’s unlikely, but as we’ve learned in the past, always assume that this front office will be aggressive.

Regardless, expect Compton to be on the 53-man roster. Whether or not he will be starting, however, remains unknown.