San Francisco 49ers: Are personnel changes coming in 2019?

San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan met with the media Monday. Among topics discussed were the potential roster movements for 2019 regarding some aging players, including Pierre Garcon, who’s season has now come to an end after being placed on injured reserve.

The San Francisco 49ers have sustained a ton of injuries this season, with multiple veteran players sidelined. The only upside to that has been younger players having the opportunity to gain some valuable snaps. And as the Niners continue to rebuild, is that really a bad thing?

While it is important to have veterans on your team to provide that on field knowledge and skill set, it is just as important for teams to develop rookies and young players who will ultimately be the future of the team.

With the amount of injuries the 49ers have sustained, there have been plenty of rookies that have had the unexpected chance to prove themselves on the field.

None more so than among the Niners defense and wide receivers.

Shanahan announced during his Monday press conference that wide receiver Pierre Garcon’s season is finished, with the veteran being placed on injured reserve. Garcon is scheduled to undergo an arthroscope on his knee to repair damage sustained earlier in the year. Garcon has been battling a knee injury for several weeks now and has only played in eight games this season recording 24 receptions for 286 yards.

Kyle Shanahan Monday Press Conference

Kyle Shanahan with injury updates and a final review of the Week 14 win.

Posted by San Francisco 49ers on Monday, December 10, 2018

Shanahan was asked about the possibility of letting those older players go at the end of the season, including the injured Garcon and linebacker Malcolm Smith along with nose tackle Earl Mitchell:

"Yeah. Those guys understand the business, and they understand how it works. That’s stuff that you don’t ignore. I talked about that with those guys. Those guys aren’t done. What, one guy in particular, Earl, he’s played very well this year. So, there’s a lot of football left in him. Malcolm and Pierre are battling through injuries that are legit injuries that have lingered all year. Then, to let them go out and play so you can truly judge them because they are getting older, yes. But, they do still have some good football in them if they’re healthy.Unfortunately, they haven’t been able to get healthy throughout this year. We’ve waited on Pierre for a bit. It was going very positive for a while. That’s why we felt real good about it. But, came back from that Bye week and it had gotten worse. We tried our hardest last week. He went out and went full-go Wednesday, it swelled up on him, caused him a lot of pain. So, we had to shut him down. Hopefully, they can get healthy this offseason and then you’ve got to make decisions."

Both Smith and Mitchell did not see any snaps on defense for the entire game against the Broncos. Smith has had ongoing issues with tendinitis in his lower leg for the vast majority of the season. While that has likely hampered his ability to perform somewhat, he has not had a stellar season.

Shanahan went with linebacker Elijah Lee for Sunday’s game with Smith apparently struggling to get healthy during the week.

Mitchell is another story, with Shanahan impressed how his season has been going. However, with defensive lineman D.J. Jones seeing little game time this year, Shanahan was forced to sit Mitchell in order to assess Jones. With the benching of an otherwise healthy player, whether Mitchell is seen as a long-term asset by Shanahan is questionable.

With Garcon seeing limited game time and wide receiver Marquise Goodwin having only played in nine games, rookie wide receiver Dante Pettis has been thrust onto the field in a larger role than Shanahan had originally envisioned. He has improved as the season has progressed and gained that much needed on-field experience.

Pettis shows moments where you have to think that he may be a legitimate number one receiver in the league down the track. His explosiveness, speed and the ability to separate from defenders are incredible. He has five touchdowns, the most of any 49ers’ players.

Other than the usual rookie mistakes, Pettis’ one weakness at this point seems to be his unreliability at times with catching the ball. He has 19 receptions from 35 targets for a 54.3 catch percentage. Having dropped passes at several crucial times throughout the year, this is one area for improvement

Shanahan has been impressed for the most part with Pettis’ performance and his resilience to stand up and overcome mistakes:

"Dante, we haven’t been ready to throw him out there a ton because he’s shown he’s not 100-percent fully ready to handle that. But, what has been neat to watch him is, when we didn’t have a choice and had to throw him out there, he did some things that he wasn’t ready for that we anticipated. But, by going through it, he got better as the game went with it.He made some mistakes in Tampa in the first quarter that he was better in the second quarter and got him some experience that he needs. I thought he was better in Seattle after that. Just being out there playing more, he is a very smart guy who listens and understands what you’re saying."

While it is fairly likely that Garcon’s time with the 49ers has come to an end, Smith and Mitchell are still a coin toss at this stage. Depending on what the Niners do in the draft and free agency.

Smith may simply be kept around for the next year of his contract — he has option years in 2020 and 2021 — and play out the 2019 season as a bit of added depth at linebacker. Mitchell is signed through until 2020, however, with only $6.5 million in guaranteed money worked into his contract, it shouldn’t pose much of a problem for the Niners.