SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 27 (UPI) -- The San Francisco 49ers have released veteran defensive tackle Dan Stubblefield and guard Dave Fiore.
The moves were necessary for the 49ers, who were more than $6 million over the NFL's projected $74.8 million salary cap for the 2003 season.
"It's never an easy thing to do, but Dave and Dana handled it with class," said General Manager Terry Donahue. "We had great assistance from our seven other players who agreed to restructure their contracts to help us out. We're excited to get this plan over with and now we can move on."
San Francisco also restructured the contracts of seven players, including quarterback Jeff Garcia and defensive end Andre Carter, in order to get under the cap.
Donahue said the team now will focus heavily on the draft and will look at the available free agents, although he added he doesn't expect the team to be major players in the free agent market.
"We'd like to keep as many of our players as we can," said Donahue. "We're not going to be real active in the free agent market, but that doesn't mean we won't look at upgrading the team. We'll just do it selectively in free agency while we focus on getting younger, faster and healthier."
Stubblefield, the 1997 NFL Defensive Player of the Year, started 15 games last season, collecting 43 tackles and three sacks while playing alongside Bryant Young.
Fiore was a starter the last three seasons, but he played in just three games in 2002 because of a knee injury. He was a left tackle in 1999 and right guard in 2000 and 2001 before being switched to left guard last season.
