What each 49ers 2021 draftee must do to make 2022 roster
By Peter Panacy
Round 2: 49ers OL Aaron Banks — stay healthy, beat out the 2022 rookies
The guarantee of making the 49ers’ 53-man roster in 2022 drops significantly with each passing round, and although the Niners’ Round 2 pick from last year’s draft, former Notre Dame guard Aaron Banks, has the pedigree and accolade of being an early selection, there are nevertheless plenty of reasons to worry about him.
Banks was given every opportunity to secure the starting right guard spot over Daniel Brunskill last year, but the rookie’s underperformance and subsequent shoulder injury during the preseason led to him being an early weekly inactive for much of 2021.
All told, Banks saw just five regular-season snaps last season.
However, Banks is a natural left guard, and he wasn’t going to beat out Pro Bowler Laken Tomlinson last year anyway. With Tomlinson now gone, Banks appears to be the favorite to secure the starter’s role.
Even if Banks doesn’t secure this job outright, his roster spot is still likely safe. All he effectively has to do to stick around for one more year, even if it’s just in a reserve role, is to ensure he doesn’t lose a spot on the depth chart to one of San Francisco’s four rookie linemen to watch in training camp: Spencer Burford, Nick Zakelj, Jason Poe and Dohnovan West.
Each of those first-year pros, even the latter two undrafted free agents, will be interesting to watch and could challenge Banks.
He just has to beat out the majority of them to hang around.