1st-year 49ers who may not even play a single snap for San Francisco
By Peter Panacy
Whether they arrived via free agency, trade or the NFL Draft, these first-year 49ers may not even wind up making the 53-man roster this season.
Right now, the San Francisco 49ers have 90 players on their offseason roster.
They'll have only 53 by the time Week 1 rolls around.
The challenges of trimming the roster nearly in half are always daunting, and good teams like the Niners are also going to wind up parting ways with players who could otherwise start on other lesser-talented teams.
But that's a problem head coach Kyle Shanahan and Co. will have to figure out at a later time. Meanwhile, he'll worry more about evaluating both returning players and fresh faces who did not spend 2022 with San Francisco but were playing elsewhere.
New additions often have the benefit of being, well... new. Some, such as star defensive tackle Javon Hargrave, are all but guaranteed a roster spot because of their pedigree and prowess.
Not everyone, however, falls close into a category like Hargrave.
Whether they arrived via free agency, through a trade or by the way of the NFL Draft, these first-year 49ers players could wind up not even playing a single regular-season game for the team this season.
No. 5: 49ers linebacker Jalen Graham
Yes, we realize we just touted the intrigue of rookie linebacker Jalen Graham, whom the Niners grabbed in Round 7 of this year's draft.
Still, seventh-round picks are anything but guaranteed a roster spot, and Graham is looking at an awfully crowded depth chart at the position anyway. All-Pro Fred Warner leads the cast, while Dre Greenlaw is right behind him. Oren Burks is a shoo-in to make the 53-man roster, and Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles is likely safe, too.
If San Francisco keeps five backers, four spots are essentially taken. That'd leave Graham competing with another fellow rookie, Dee Winters, who was grabbed in Round 5 of the draft, Curtis Robinson and Marcelino McCrary-Ball.
The odds aren't necessarily in Graham's favor.