San Francisco 49ers: Predicting the 5 most surprising roster cuts of 2018

With the 2018 season nearing, Niner Noise tries to predict what would be the San Francisco 49ers’ five most surprising roster cuts after training camp and the preseason.

A year ago, the San Francisco 49ers‘ primary objective was to overturn what was, previously, a 2-14 roster heading into the 2017 season.

Now, general manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan’s job is more about fine tuning it.

There are inevitably going to be tough decisions when it comes to trimming the 90-man offseason roster down to 53 players. Fortunately for San Francisco, a surplus of over $45 million in cap space means the team won’t have to worry too much about cap casualties. But roster spots are just as valuable, which means those tough choices won’t go away.

This season, the Niners have a number of deeper positions heading towards the regular season. Much of the depth chart and eventual 53-man roster will be determined by what happens in training camp and the preseason. Yet there are some signs that may help reveal who’s in danger of being cut.

Some involve offseason free-agent pickups. Others have a plethora of player talent with little room to carry a deep crop of players at that position.

Fortunately, the 49ers won’t have to make these decisions until after the final preseason game this season. But the evaluation process has already started and won’t get much easier between now and the beginning of September.

Here are five surprising roster-cut predictions for San Francisco in 2018.