6 49ers who improved roster chances in preseason win vs. Chiefs
By Peter Panacy
The San Francisco 49ers beat the Kansas City Chiefs 27-17 in Week 3 of the 2019 NFL preseason, and these six players improved their roster chances during this exhibition bout.
The San Francisco 49ers are now 3-0 amid their 2019 NFL preseason campaign after dispatching the Kansas City Chiefs 27-17 on Saturday night. While wins and losses aren’t particularly important during this exhibition phase before the regular season, it usually means a number of players ended up doing a good job improving their stock value.
Especially those on the back end of the roster, who are striving to make the cut for the Niners’ 53-man roster.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan’s final decisions regarding this won’t happen until Saturday, Aug. 31 when he’ll have to trim the offseason roster down from 90 players. But there’s actually some good stemming from the multitude of tough decisions he’ll have to make between now and Saturday.
It means the roster overall is improved, and one could argue this particular cut period will be the toughest yet for Shanahan since taking over in 2017.
Shanahan received plenty of additional data and analysis points Saturday night, particularly in the second half when the Niners retook the lead over Kansas City and held onto it for good.
A number of players stood out in the contest, including quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, who bounced back from an ugly preseason bout in Denver against the Broncos the previous week.
But Garoppolo isn’t in any danger of missing the roster. Many other players are, however.
Niner Noise takes a look at five of those players, who certainly increased their chances of making it through final cuts and finding a spot on San Francisco’s 53-man roster when Week 1 rolls around in early September.