San Francisco 49ers: Early 53-man roster predictions for 2018
By Peter Panacy
Niner Noise takes a look at the current San Francisco 49ers offseason roster and dishes out early predictions on who makes the 53-man cut heading into 2018.
The 2018 NFL Draft is just two weeks old, and the San Francisco 49ers are far, far away from deciding which players on its current offseason roster will make the eventual cut down to 53 players when Week 1 rolls around this September.
San Francisco added some notable talent via free agency this offseason. And then there were the nine selections made during the draft itself.
Combine that with noteworthy undrafted free agents and carryovers from 2017, and it’s easy to see why general manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan have some tough decisions ahead of them.
There are going to be fluctuations, of course. The team will assuredly bring in remaining free-agent talent, look at other teams’ roster cuts and possibly explore a trade or two.
In the meantime, we have minicamps, organized team activities (OTAs), training camp and the preseason to look forward to. All these will affect the players named to the 53-man roster at the start of the 2018 regular season.
But, based off what we know and can speculate now, let’s dive into some early predictions on how the 53-man roster will look like to kick off the upcoming campaign.
Starting off with a position needing little fanfare, special teams.
Note: Backups are italicized.