49ers: 5 players who aren’t helping their roster chances during OTAs
By Peter Panacy
With the 49ers getting ready to close out OTAs, these five players haven’t done enough to suggest they’ll be locks for the 53-man roster.
The San Francisco 49ers wrap up the organized team activities on Thursday, June 10 before kicking off a three-day mandatory minicamp between June 15 and 17.
These padless, relatively low-intensity practices don’t necessarily mean a lot, but they can be vital in helping determine the pecking order and initial depth chart heading towards training camp next month, and head coach Kyle Shanahan and his staff have no doubt paid close attention to those who are either making a positive impact or are struggling.
Rookies are always under the spotlight. Even if quarterback Trey Lance was having an awful OTA session (he’s not), his status as the No. 3 overall pick from this year’s NFL Draft all but guarantees him a roster spot. The same should be said of the Niners’ second- and third-round picks, too.
After that, and with many of the depth veterans elsewhere on the offseason roster, those who are struggling now ultimately endanger their chances of hanging around into the regular season.
As such, these five players aren’t exactly helping themselves during OTAs.
No. 5: 49ers Tight End Charlie Woerner
Second-year pro tight end Charlie Woerner wasn’t drafted by San Francisco a year ago to be a pass-catching specialist, rather an upper-level run-blocker and little else.
Yet the 49ers are hoping Woerner improved his previously ugly route-running skills, which ultimately limited him to just three catches for 36 yards his rookie season, although the early indications aren’t saying this has happened.
This, according to Sports Illustrated’s Grant Cohn:
"The second pass was a 25-yard deep throw up the seam to Charlie Woerner, who ran the wrong route — he broke toward the corner of the end zone. Tight ends coach John Embree ran up to Woerner after the play and corrected him."
Tight ends George Kittle and Ross Dwelley are essentially locked to make the roster. But the battle for the No. 3 spot between Woerner, rookie Josh Pederson and the recently added MyCole Pruitt figures to be a heated competition.
Woerner will likely have to beat out both of the other names to hang around into the regular season, and the early indications are he’s struggling to do so.