49ers vs. Texans: 3 San Francisco players needing a strong Week 2 of preseason

With the San Francisco 49ers’ preseason Week 2 bout against the Houston Texans coming up, Niner Noise examines three San Francisco players who need to step up their game this week.

In the preseason, there are always going to be winners and losers, and the San Francisco 49ers are no exception. Aaron Tan wrote about three Niner players who played exceptionally in Week 1.

However, for all the positive vibes coming from a comeback over the Dallas Cowboys, there were several players who didn’t put up a great performance. In the preseason, where you only have four games to showcase your abilities, struggling in one game is almost a death sentence.

And the players we are talking about aren’t trying to push for a starting job with their place secure. No, these players are competing for their roster spot.

The status quo for these guys isn’t enough. They have to play well just to stay in the competition.

The choices for this will be heavily influenced by last week’s game, but that won’t be the only factor. For example, if a player has been incredible in training camp but was only average last week, he probably won’t make this list because he doesn’t need a good showing. Sure, it could help, but his situation isn’t as dire as a player who hasn’t played all training camp.

With all that said, let’s get started to see which players need to make a name for themselves in Houston against the Texans this weekend, or risk not being on the roster come the regular season.