49ers roster: These 4 NFL Draft picks are already in danger of being cut

The 49ers entered the 2022 offseason with a playoff-caliber roster, meaning these four NFL Draft picks are already facing an uphill battle to hang around.

It’s rare for a team to keep every one of its NFL Draft picks any given year, and it’s even rarer for good teams to do such a thing.

And this is where we find the San Francisco 49ers, who entered the 2022 draft with a playoff-caliber roster already and in need of only a handful of upgrades and additions.

Armed with nine rookies by the time the draft was complete, it is always fun to project each rookie as making a sizable impact at some point, potentially even sooner than later. Yet the reality is most players end up flaming out and won’t command that second contract.

For others, their NFL dream can come to a screeching halt before the regular season even begins.

With the Niners beginning training camp this week, we’ll get the latest doses of evidence as to whether or not rookies are improving their stock values, and they’re understandably skewed better the earlier that prospect was drafted.

However, for these four rookies, hanging onto a roster spot is far from guaranteed.

49ers rookie No. 4: Quarterback Brock Purdy

“Mr. Irrelevant,” the final pick of the NFL Draft, former Iowa State quarterback Brock Purdy does face a dark-horse chance to secure the No. 3 spot on the depth chart behind incumbent signal-callers, Trey Lance and Nate Sudfeld.

This, of course, is contingent upon San Francisco trading veteran quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo between now and Week 1, yet if Garoppolo is somehow retained, Purdy’s chances are nonexistent.

Even if Garoppolo is moved, however, Purdy is going to be a QB3 on the 53-man roster at best, as Sudfeld’s fully guaranteed $2 million deal for 2022 isn’t going to endanger his own roster spot.

It’d be one thing if Purdy’s offseason workouts and/or collegiate pedigree mandated the 49ers keeping him around, yet he’s done nothing so far during offseason workouts to suggest he’s worth a roster spot.

No, the likely outcome is for him to be waived as part of the team’s cut-down efforts to get to 53 players.