San Francisco 49ers: Way-Too Early Predictions for 2017 Starting Lineup

The San Francisco 49ers starting lineup in 2016 is nowhere close to being set. And yet Niner Noise wants to give you a way-too early look at what San Francisco’s lineup may be in 2017? Yeah, we do.

It’s never too early to make predictions for the San Francisco 49ers, right?

Here’s a bold prediction for you — the 49ers will be Super Bowl champions in 2019.

OK, so that last one may be a little silly. And it would take some serious algorithms to try and make predictions that far in advanced and with so many X-factors and variables in the equation.

But we can make some very-early predictions for what the 49ers starting lineup might look like in 2017. Please say we can because, well, we can.

We have few totally accurate conclusions how San Francisco’s 2016 roster and lineup will look like this season. A lot has yet to be determined, and more answers will be revealed during training camp and the preseason.

Yet the majority of pieces are in place. We know who is on the roster right now, and we can make some accurate predictions for starters, backups and depth.

2017 is a little more difficult.

A good number of these players are under contract. San Francisco’s pending free agents, discussed on Niner Noise recently, could stay or go. And we can base our 2017 prediction off these assessments to a certain extent.

We can also look at other factors too — age, impact, projections, stats and a variety of other variables will help us assess the starting roster.

This way-too early prediction for 2017 will focus only on the starters in a standard 3-4 base defense and standard I-formation offenses. When applicable, we’ll throw in names you should know.

So let’s get things started, shall we?

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