49ers vs. Vikings preseason: Niners who desperately need a bounce-back game

They may have survived the opening wave of roster cuts, but these 49ers players still need to showcase their value in Week 2 of the preseason against the Vikings.

The San Francisco 49ers’ 2022 regular-season roster is going to look nothing like it did during their preseason Week 1 victory over the Green Bay Packers, and the roster from that game probably won’t come close to fielding anywhere near the same number of players the Niners will deploy in preseason Week 2 on the road against the Minnesota Vikings.

Head coach Kyle Shanahan has already expressed his preferences for scrimmages and practices over preseason games, and both San Francisco and Minnesota will be engaging in those before the week is over.

As such, the 49ers are likely to field players who are almost exclusively on the roster bubble and in real danger of missing out on the 53-man cut to start Week 1 of the regular season.

Eighty-five players have already survived the opening five-man roster cuts, but with an additional five more to be waived or released on Tuesday, Aug. 23, the pressure is on for these players to perform much better than they did last week against the Packers.

49ers bounce-back player No. 5: Offensive lineman Justin Skule

As things stand now, fourth-year reserve lineman Justin Skule is losing the battle to be the Niners’ primary swing tackle in support of starters Trent Williams and Mike McGlinchey.

Although Skule relieved McGlinchey after the latter started eight snaps against Green Bay, the efforts from the former Vanderbilt product were not good, as he was credited with allowing two quarterback pressures on a mere 11 pass-blocking snaps, according to Pro Football Focus.

Skule is already looking at returning San Francisco players vying for his job, Colton McKivitz and Jaylon Moore, as well as new faces like Jordan Mills and the rookie, Nick Zakelj.

In fairness to Skule, he missed all of 2021 with a torn ACL, so last Friday’s game marked his return to in-game action for the first time in over a year.

Yet that won’t matter if he winds up struggling against the Vikings in whatever role this Saturday.