49ers: 5 bottom-of-the-roster players to watch this preseason

49ers Player to Watch No. 4: Defensive Tackle Kentavius Street

Needless to say, it’s been a frustrating NFL road for defensive tackle Kentavius Street, who redshirted his rookie 2018 campaign and then saw scant action in both 2019 and 2020 as a reserve interior defensive lineman.

With San Francisco’s top pick from last year’s NFL Draft, Javon Kinlaw, struggling a bit during training camp thus far, Street has been the beneficiary of plenty of first-team reps, and it wouldn’t be shocking to at least see Street in a high-profile rotational role this season.

In fact, Street was one of the players defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans called out during camp, and for all the right reasons:

"Street has been, he’s been very consistent. Day in and day out, you know what you’re going to get. He’s been consistent in the backfield disrupting run plays. Also being able to react quicker on a pass play. This is the first year for Street that he really hasn’t had to be concerned about rehabbing or focused on injury, right? So he’s at this offseason to really work his tail off, to really put together a good training camp. And he’s off to a really great start. I’m excited to see how Street will do in the preseason games and moving forward."

The 49ers are still likely to insert Kinlaw into the No. 1 role, yet Street appears to be going from a fringe player on the bottom of the roster to a key reserve.

His efforts this preseason will say a lot about how that pans out.