1st-year 49ers who may not even play a single snap for San Francisco
By Peter Panacy
No. 3: 49ers tight end Brayden Willis
Another rookie draftee who could ultimately struggle to find a spot on the Niners' 53-man roster, seventh-rounder Brayden Willis out of Oklahoma is looking at a deep crop of tight ends he'll have to overcome to hang around into the regular season.
No one is challenging George Kittle, of course. Yet the remaining depth chart behind him is awfully fluid. And it grew more provocative, thanks to San Francisco's actions in the draft that landed Willis and fellow tight end Cameron Latu, selected in Round 3 out of Alabama.
Latu's draft pedigree might make him a safer bet to potentially beat out one of the two backup tight ends to Kittle, Ross Dwelley and Charlie Woerner.
But, even if Kyle Shanahan elects to keep four tight ends on the roster, Willis might end up being the odd man out.
Willis is versatile and does a lot of things well. Yet the "jack of all trades, master of none" rarely works at the NFL level, and Willis could ultimately fall victim to that.