49ers roster: 4 players whose stock took a hit at minicamp

While it was only two days, 49ers mandatory minicamp revealed some clear winners and losers, but these four didn’t exactly impress.

For every win on the practice field, there has to be a corresponding loss. And stringing together a number of losses in a row isn’t exactly the best-case scenario for players gunning for roles and roster spots heading towards the regular season.

The San Francisco 49ers just wrapped up two days’ worth of mandatory minicamp, cutting short the third and final day and likely ending their offseason workouts until training camp kicks off later this summer.

And while these practices are both padless and lack physical contact, thereby not telling the full competitive story, they are important in helping determine the pecking order on the depth chart head coach Kyle Shanahan will want to implement.

Niner Noise already explored some players who performed notably well during minicamp, but it’s worth flipping the script and seeing who didn’t exactly impress much.

Here are four whose roster stock levels fell during mandatory minicamp.

No. 4: 49ers quarterback Nate Sudfeld

All eyes have been on second-year quarterback Trey Lance during offseason workouts, as Jimmy Garoppolo‘s absence because of offseason shoulder surgery and a likely trade between now and Week 1 has afforded Lance all the first-team reps.

The Niners’ depth behind Lance, however, might be a big question mark with Nate Sudfeld and seventh-round rookie draft pick Brock Purdy battling out for the QB2 role in 2022.

Sudfeld, in particular, didn’t impress Sports Illustrated’s Grant Cohn, who cited the backup as one of the poorer performers from day two of practice:

"[Sudfeld] overthrew a deep pass to Ray-Ray McCloud who was open running a post route — call this miss a Garoppolo Special. Then near the end of the practice, Sudfeld pulled another Jimmy G by rolling right and throwing a pick to a linebacker standing literally right in front of him. Now we see why zero teams signed Sudfeld last year when he was on the 49ers practice squad. I still don’t understand why the 49ers like him."

Now, there have been some contradictory reports saying Sudfeld was OK, but the offsetting analysis does suggest Sudfeld hasn’t separated himself as the bona fide QB2 over Purdy just yet.

San Francisco better hope Lance stays healthy for all of 2022.