With one week of 49ers training camp in the books, Niner Noise revises the bubble watch for the offseason depth chart to see who’ll make the 53 man roster.
The San Francisco 49ers have wrapped up their first week of training camp, and already there are some key storylines for head coach Kyle Shanahan to tackle.
Injuries have played a role, namely with the team having lost second-year wide receiver Jalen Hurd to a season-ending ACL tear, removing a player many Niners fans were excited to see for the first time after he missed his rookie year with a back injury.
Hurd’s absence opens up another spot on the depth chart, meaning one of the other reserve players on the 80-man offseason roster is going to be taking Hurd’s spot.
There have been other roster tweaks since Hurd’s injury, and there are likely to be more between now and the beginning of the regular season when Shanahan and his staff will have to trim down from 80 players to the 53-man roster we’ll see in Week 1.
Many of those transactions will produce players on the weaker side of the roster bubble. So, to break down the bubble, Niner Noise breaks down each player into the four standard categories:
- Lock
- Strong Bubble
- Weak Bubble
- Long Shot
The bubble can be pretty wide and include players most think make the roster. Since they’re not surefire locks, though, they have to be placed on part of the fringes.
And it’s too bad we won’t see those long shots make a name for themselves in the preseason, but that’s the situation this offseason.
So, let’s kick off the roster bubble by looking at a unit where there’s no drama, special teams.
* Denotes rookie.
Note: Roster used is the official one posted on the team’s website as of Aug. 20, 2020.