Doing 53-man roster projections before training camp and the preseason is never particularly easy. With the 49ers’ current roster construct it is nigh impossible.
When teams have open battles for starting jobs it’s easier to piece together a depth chart. This San Francisco club has position battles, but most of them come among several players vying for roster spots that typically amount to special teams and reserve roles.
The door is open for a ton of players on the 49ers’ 90-man offseason roster. They’re inevitably going to cut players who should be on NFL rosters, which means leaving players off a 53-man projection is difficult without seeing what they look like in camp and the preseason.
Alas, these are the players who were the most difficult to leave out of our pre-training camp 53-man roster projection:
WR Danny Gray
There’s an explosive element to Gray’s game that could change the 49ers’ offense. He’d bring speed the team hasn’t really had at WR since Marquise Goodwin. History says it’s hard for WRs to please head coach Kyle Shanahan though so we leaned toward the 49ers cutting Gray to keep a player who can contribute more on special teams.
DE Austin Bryant
Trying to rule out any defensive end with this 49ers’ coaching staff is hard. Bryant had 4.5 sacks in the only year of his four-year career when he played double-digit games. There’s a world where he becomes a productive rotational edge rusher for San Francisco. His injury history is concerning though which is what left him off our early roster prediction.
LB Dee Winters
General manager John Lynch invoked Dre Greenlaw’s name when talking about Winters’ skill set. That could bode well for the 2023 sixth-round pick long-term. If the team views him as a Will LB though that could make his climb to a roster spot more difficult than the one for his fellow draftee Jalen Graham who better fits the Sam LB bill. Winters may ultimately mess around and not only make the team, but find playing time this year. He’ll first have to overcome a handful of veterans vying for the same roles.
Darrell Luter Jr.
There’s a tenacity to Luter’s game that fits with what the 49ers do defensively. Beginning camp on the PUP list is tough though and forced him to miss the roster in our pre-camp guess at who makes the team. It’s easy to see where Luter could thrive long-term, which is why leaving him out is so difficult.
DB Myles Hartsfield
Hartsfield checks a ton of boxes. He knows 49ers defensive coordinator Steve Wilks after their time together in Carolina last year. He can also play multiple positions in an NFL that’s increasingly more reliant on defensive versatility. A numbers crunch left him on the outside looking in on our projection though. Hartsfield is one of those players who would quickly get scooped up by another team if he doesn’t land with the 49ers.
TE Brayden Willis
Willis is a fun player who’s a willing blocker and a good enough athlete to make plays after the catch. The seventh-round pick just missed the cut though since it’s hard to imagine the 49ers keeping two rookie TEs and relying on them to make an impact out of the gate. Of course, both Willis and third-round pick Cameron Latu could impress in camp and force the issue. For now the third-round pick got the nod though with veteran Ross Dwelley earning a spot over Willis.
RB Tyrion Davis-Price
Special teams could ultimately doom Davis-Price. He wasn’t the best 49ers rookie RB last year despite coming in as a third-round pick, and he didn’t make a lot of progress in carving out a role on special teams. Still, he’s an undoubtedly talented player and leaving him off the team in favor of an undrafted rookie wasn’t a layup decision. History tells us though it may have been the right one.
