49ers: 3 players from 2021 NFL Draft who aren’t locks to make roster

Of the San Francisco 49ers’ eight selections in the 2021 NFL Draft, there are three players who may not end up making the 53-man roster come Week 1.

The San Francisco 49ers hope they haven’t discovered the next running back Joe Williams.

Reverting back to that 2017 reference, the Niners used a fourth-round pick on the former Utah tailback, only to see him struggle with ball security during training camp and the preseason his rookie year, which resulted in an injury designation and a redshirted rookie year.

Williams was off the roster by the start of the 2018 season and never saw a regular-season NFL snap.

More recently, in 2020, San Francisco’s final pick of that year’s NFL Draft, Tennessee wide receiver Jauan Jennings, ended up scuffling in camp and subsequently landed on the practice squad, although there’s hope Jennings has turned his young career around in year two.

The latter scenario might be OK, but it still sheds light on the reality not all of the 49ers’ eight draftees from the 2021 NFL Draft are guaranteed roster spots.

OK, players like quarterback Trey Lance, offensive guard Aaron Banks, cornerback Ambry Thomas and running back Trey Sermon are essentially all safe, given the Niners used picks on days one and two of the draft to select them, so the investments are much higher and those players subsequently will be given more chances to succeed than day-three picks.

But with four players selected between Rounds 5 and 7, and only so many available spots on the presumed 53-man roster, there are a number of 2021 San Francisco draft picks who aren’t guaranteed at all to survive cuts.

Let’s break down which three of those stand out this way and why.