Early 49ers 53-man roster predictions following 2022 NFL Draft

The 49ers’ offseason programs will begin soon, which means it is already time to start figuring out who will make the cut when the roster is trimmed down to 53.

The NFL offseason is a strange time for fans of the San Francisco49ers and the league at large.

To be sure, it’s a 12-month-a-year league for the most part, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t pockets of the calendar that are, shall we say, less than exciting.

This post-draft period before OTAs and minicamps is certainly one of those doldrums of the NFL league year, even though the Niners continue to keep the conversations rolling with wide receivers demanding trades and quarterbacks who can’t be traded.

In spite of all that chatter, there’s still plenty of room for projections as we begin to turn the collective gazes of NFL fans toward the upcoming May 12 schedule release, which means considerations about the 2022 regular season and beyond can truly begin in earnest.

And so, as we’ll do throughout the offseason, that all begins with the first stab at what general manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan will do with their roster when it comes time to cut it down to 53 players before the start of the regular season.

By and large, San Francisco’s roster is in good shape with plenty of places pretty well solidified across the board. And while that doesn’t leave a lot of room for the nine players whom the team selected in the 2022 NFL Draft or the 14 undrafted free agents they brought in soon after the draft ended to carve out a roster spot for themselves, it does make for an interesting exercise in terms of the roster’s fringes.

Obviously, once training camp begins, this projection can begin to solidify even more. But given the current state of the roster and the players the 49ers have brought in this offseason, here is the first (of many) attempts to figure out what the Niners’ 53-man roster will look like at the start of the 2022 regular season.