49ers roster: 3 thinnest positions entering 2021 season
By Peter Panacy
The 49ers spent a good chunk of the offseason reinforcing their depth chart, but these three positions are still relatively thin entering 2021.
In an ideal scenario, the San Francisco 49ers would beef up their roster with a first string of starters and a high level of second-string players who’d otherwise be starters on any other team, then third-string players who’d be quality fill-in options, too.
Welcome to the goal of any NFL franchise.
The Niners learned the hard way last season just how important depth is. After suffering more injuries than any other team by far in 2020, general manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan spent considerable effort beefing up the depth chart, creating some notably deep position groups as the team prepares for training camp in 2021.
Yet no offseason can truly create a fully deep roster ready for any kind of injury attrition across the board.
With the understanding Lynch and Shanahan could only do so much with the roster in 2021, there were inevitably going to be some holes left on the offseason roster. By the ways of free agency and the NFL Draft, stockpiling reserves simply wasn’t going to be possible across the entire roster.
It might be OK if San Francisco stays healthy. But as last year showed, that won’t always be the case. The 49ers should be a bit concerned about some of their depth heading into the regular season.
There are a number of positions where the depth is questionable, and the Niners can’t afford the kind of attrition rate they suffered a year ago.
Particularly with these three positions where the depth is thin.