Are the 49ers really going to keep four quarterbacks? Head coach Kyle Shanahan hasn’t taken the idea off the table. And it’s hard to blame him given the turbulence at the position last year that ultimately led to their demise in the NFC championship game.
However, the reality of the situation is that rosters are limited to just 53 players and even keeping a third (which they’ll very likely do) forces the club to make a concession elsewhere on the roster.
General manager John Lynch discussed how keeping a fourth signal caller would put their roster in a bind at another position, but we decided to see exactly what it might look like if the 49ers went the extreme route of rostering four (4) quarterbacks on the 53-man roster.
Using our most recent roster projection just for the sake of the experiment (the points still stand regardless of which players are involved), we went position-by-position to first see if the team can even cut down at that spot. Then if there is any wiggle room to lose one on the roster, we took a look at which player might be on the chopping block at that position.
Spoiler alert: It’s not easy finding room for a fourth QB.
Running back
Projected roster
Christian McCaffrey
Elijah Mitchell
Ty Davis-Price
Jordan Mason
Can they make a cut?
It’s hard to imagine the 49ers only going into the season with three RBs considering how effective Mason was last year and how good Davis-Price has been in camp this year. Mitchell has also been stellar when healthy. They have too many good players and the position is too important for San Francisco to leave short, but they could conceivably keep just three.
Who gets cut?
Ty Davis-Price is probably the odd man out here unless he improves as a special teams player and overtakes Jordan Mason in that facet. This immediately underscores why it’s hard to keep four QBs though because the cost of keeping a fourth string QB is one of their best RBs in camp.
Wide receiver
Projected roster
Deebo Samuel
Brandon Aiyuk
Jauan Jennings
Ray-Ray McCloud
Danny Gray
Can they make a cut?
Five is already a pretty light roster at wide receiver. If Gray is not on the roster it’s because a different fifth WR made it.
Who gets cut?
Nobody
Tight end
Projected roster
George Kittle
Charlie Woerner
Ross Dwelley
Cameron Latu
Can they make a cut?
It’s not out of the question that San Francisco rolls with three TEs and keeps Kittle, Woerner and then just one of Dwelley, Latu or the rookie Brayden Willis. In the event they keep three Dwelley is probably let go and whichever rookie has the best camp grabs the final roster spot.
Who gets cut?
Ross Dwelley
Offensive line
Projected roster
Trent Williams
Colton McKivitz
Jaylon Moore
Matt Pryor
Spencer Burford
Aaron Banks
Jon Feliciano
Jake Brendel
Nick Zakelj
Can they make a cut?
The short answer here is ‘yes.’ They could cut one of these nine offensive linemen. Keeping just eight puts them in potentially dire straits if a player gets hurt though. Pryor and Moore both play outside, while Feliciano and Zakelj are both interior backup options. They don’t have the combination of quality or versatility to comfortably cut one of their offensive linemen, but it’s not completely out of the realm of possibilities.
Who gets cut?
Nick Zakelj or Matt Pryor would be the likely casualty of keeping a fourth QB if this is where the 49ers decided to trim the roster.
Defensive line
Projected roster
Nick Bosa
Drake Jackson
Austin Bryant
Clelin Ferrell
Kerry Hyder
Arik Armstead
Javon Hargrave
Javon Kinlaw
Kevin Givens
T.Y. McGill
Can they make a cut?
This is a spot where they could realistically go a player short. Keeping 10 defensive linemen gives them a ton of depth, but it’s not out of the question that they feel good enough about nine players that they roll that number while developing some in-house depth on the practice squad.
Who gets cut?
Kerry Hyder or T.Y. McGill would likely be on the chopping block based on this roster projection.
Linebacker
Projected roster
Fred Warner
Dre Greenlaw
Oren Burks
Marcelino McCrary-Ball
Dee Winters
Can they make a cut?
Five is a pretty comfortable number at linebacker, and the 49ers have enough good players there that they might go with six depending on how they feel about their draft picks Winters and Jalen Graham. Four LBs puts a ton of constraints on their LB depth while also impacting their special teams.
Who gets cut?
Nobody.
Cornerback
Projected roster
Charvarius Ward
Deommodore Lenoir
Isaiah Oliver
Samuel Womack
D’Shawn Jamison
Can they make a cut?
There isn’t much wiggle room at cornerback with five players on the roster. In fact, it’s more likely they hold onto six CBs than four. They could go one short at CB if they really liked a safety’s versatility, but that would probably then require them to keep an additional safety which would defeat the purpose of creating a roster spot.
Who gets cut?
Nobody.
Safety
Projected roster
Tashaun Gipson
Talanoa Hufanga
Ji’Ayir Brown
George Odum
Can they make a cut?
Going with just three safeties would be really risky, and finding a safety to cut isn’t easy. The only way they could really do this is if they love a safety they think they can get to the practice squad to keep in-house in the event of an injury. Still, three leaves them short if there’s a game day injury, and it puts them in a numbers crunch on special teams.
Who gets cut?
Nobody.
Specialists
Projected roster
K Jake Moody
P Mitch Wishnowsky
LS Taybor Pepper
Can they make a cut?
They cannot, unless they want to try playing without a kicker, punter or long snapper.
Who gets cut?
Nobody.
