San Francisco 49ers: Full Prediction of 53-Man Roster in 2016

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January 20, 2016; Santa Clara, CA, USA; Chip Kelly (left) and San Francisco 49ers general manager Trent Baalke (right) address the media in a press conference after naming Kelly as the new head coach for the 49ers at Levi’s Stadium Auditorium. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports /

The San Francisco 49ers have plenty of open spots on their roster. How might Trent Baalke, Chip Kelly and company fill them?

With an entirely new head coach coming from outside the system, and question marks up and down the roster, the San Francisco 49ers’ 53-man roster is particularly difficult to predict this season. Nearly half of the slots on the final roster are legitimately up for competition, even after you pencil in the team’s best players, recently picked draft picks and large contracts. There should be significant actual competition up and down the roster. Some positions, like wide receiver, are entirely and fully up for grabs, with spots from starter down to last guy on the bench all wide open for the taking. It’s should be a more eventful preseason than most, in other words.

The final roster will probably look like something of a hybrid. Both general manager Trent Baalke and head coach Chip Kelly have had personnel control over the past few years, and while Baalke retains control over the 53-man roster, Kelly should have plenty of input, especially on offense, as he converts the team from the West Coast system favored under Geep Chryst and Greg Roman to his own spread philosophy.

So, what will that roster look like when the 49ers open their regular season on September 12^th, in their first game against the Los Angeles Rams since 1994? Let’s take a snapshot of the roster as it stands today, and try to piece things together as best we can. We’ll try to pin down the starters, the backups, and those fighting on the bubble to get in.

Next: Quarterbacks