San Francisco 49ers: 5 starting positions up for grabs in 2020
By Peter Panacy
The San Francisco 49ers don’t have a ton of roster needs heading into 2020, but there are some key position battles to wonder about. Here are five worth monitoring between now and the regular season.
The 2020 San Francisco 49ers will look noticeably different than the 2019 roster which carried them through a 13-3 regular season all the way to Super Bowl LIV.
That’s the nature of the game, essentially, as every team looks to improve its roster from year to year, while also overcoming the difficulties associated with contracts, player age, managing the salary cap and ensuring a locker room stays cohesive.
For the Niners, who boast just over $12 million in available cap space, according to Over the Cap, the 2020 offseason will be a bit tougher than it has been in previous seasons. Before 2020, San Francisco was regularly among the top teams in available cap space, which is often associated with being a bad team. And from 2015 through 2018, the 49ers were just that.
The Niners’ recent turnaround means it will be difficult re-signing a number of their top free agents, including wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders, defensive end Arik Armstead and defensive back Jimmie Ward. It’s feasible the 49ers bring back one or two of those players, even if it means parting ways with other commodities on the roster. But the reality is general manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan will have to do some roster tweaking between now and Week 1.
That means a number of roster positions are actually up for grabs despite what might be the case with San Francisco owning a relatively stacked roster.
Niner Noise takes a look at some of those positions, breaking down five starter roles which will be up for grabs this offseason.