NFL roster cuts: 3 waived players SF 49ers should try to claim

The SF 49ers aren’t likely to be too active on the waiver wire following NFL roster cuts Saturday. But these three available players are still interesting.

The SF 49ers‘ final 53-man roster ahead of Week 1 seems to be set following the league’s deadline on Saturday, Sept. 5 to trim down from 80 players.

But with a little over a week before the Niners kick off their 2020 regular-season campaign against the Arizona Cardinals in Week 1, there’s always a chance general manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan make some additional tweaks and changes to the back end of their roster.

Roughly a third of the league’s players who participated in teams’ training camps this offseason are now available, either via being released or waived. Waived players, who must accrue four years at the NFL level, have to pass through the waiver system which is based on this year’s NFL Draft order, putting San Francisco awfully low on the claim order.

New practice squad rules, including a 16-man squad with six spots now available for veteran players who otherwise wouldn’t have been eligible, changes things a bit. But waivers are still waivers.

That said, a number of players could easily slip through claims, either to the SF 49ers’ spot at No. 31 overall or into NFL free agency if they make it through all 32 teams.

Without getting into the contractual details of whether or not the Niners should use their waiver-claim spot or wait to see if the Kansas City Chiefs make a claim, thereby seeing if a waived player becomes a free agent, let’s take a look at some players San Francisco could be interested in trying to land between now and Week 1.

Note: These are waived players, not veteran free agents who were released.