5 players who need a strong training camp to stay on 49ers’ roster

The San Francisco 49ers will have some tough decisions in training camp, and these five players will need to perform well if they hope to hang around on the 53-man roster in 2019.

Training camp is all about finding the best 53 players to comprise a regular-season roster. And San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan will have his hands full with tough decisions on which players to cut and which to keep.

In many cases, it’s a fairly easy decision. Some long-shot players absolutely need to wow Shanahan and the coaching staff to have a distant chance to land a spot on the back end. They’re merely camp bodies, competing for that slimmest of chance.

But others are often more established.

Shanahan’s goal is to wind up having to part ways with players who’ll often be able to start, or at least contribute, on a number of other NFL teams. That’s an indication the team is improving as a whole.

Entering 2019, that should be the case — arguably more so than the previous two years under Shanahan’s tutelage and leadership.

So, with training camp only a few weeks away, Niner Noise takes a look at five players who’ll need to perform very well in order to hang around into the regular season.

No. 5: Offensive Guard Joshua Garnett

The Niners’ former first-round draft pick, offensive guard Joshua Garnett, seems to be perennially on the roster bubble. He lost a starting bid last season to right guard Mike Person, and it looks as if he’ll be relegated to backup duties again, at best, if he hangs around on the roster.

Garnett’s fit under Shanahan isn’t quite there, and the fact San Francisco didn’t pick up Garnett’s fifth-year option isn’t a good sign.

That said, 49ers offensive line coach John Benton told The Athletic’s David Lombardi (h/t David Bonilla of 49ers Webzone) Garnett is “a legitimate, 100 percent contender” to start in 2019.

Perhaps. Garnett wasn’t a first-round draftee and former Outland Trophy recipient — awarded to the best interior lineman in college football — without reason.

But Garnett will have to showcase some serious thump and improvement in training camp, not just to earn that starting job, but to even avoid those roster cuts after Week 4 of the preseason.