Predicting the San Francisco 49ers Starting Lineup in 2017
By Peter Panacy
Special Teams
Punter Bradley Pinion isn’t going anywhere, so he’s a lock to retain his job next season.
But other positions might garner some attention.
At 41 years old, veteran kicker Phil Dawson might call this season his last. It wouldn’t be surprising to see him call it a career, especially now he’s crested 400 field goals, once this year is through. And he’s only signed through 2016 too.
The 49ers could bring him back, but it seems likelier they’ll look to free agency as an option. An undrafted free agent — where most specialists are found — also seems like a plausible route after the 2017 NFL Draft is complete.
In the return game, San Francisco might count on wide receiver Bruce Ellington to assume his duties if he comes back healthy.
But cornerback JaCorey Shepherd has been doing a great job on kickoff returns, and the same could be said of wideout Jeremy Kerley on punts.
Kerley probably stays into 2017 — we’ll get to that shortly — but Shepherd might be expendable, considering the depth San Francisco has within the secondary. Let’s replace him with Ellington.