With so many fresh faces, starters might be displaced
The 49ers’ 90-man offseason roster includes just 40 players who were on the team before general manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan were hired.
The offseason purge, however, hasn’t included many of the draft picks made by general manager Trent Baalke from 2010 through ’16: The new regime has retained 27 of the 31 draft picks it inherited.
However, that doesn’t mean Baalke’s remaining handpicked players should feel comfortable. In fact, as the 49ers hold their first OTA practice of the offseason Monday, several players who were unquestioned starters last year figure to be involved in spirited training-camp position
fights.
Here’s a look at four players whose slam-dunk-starter status has changed after the flurry of offseason moves: Tight end Vance McDonald: This is the most obvious: Baalke gave McDonald a contract extension in December; Lynch tried to give McDonald a new team during the draft.
Both Lynch and Shanahan acknowledged they shopped McDonald in April while they overhauled his position with their own players. They drafted Iowa tight end George Kittle in the fifth round before signing Louisville’s Cole Hikutini, who was the top undrafted rookie on their wish list.
When asked about attempts to trade McDonald, Lynch indicated he wasn’t a match in Shanahan’s offense: “I think that’s the reality of new regimes coming in, new schemes. That’s not to say that he can’t fit into our scheme.”
However, Shanahan also has said that good players generally can fit into any scheme. Shanahan and Lynch clearly don’t expect McDonald, a 2013 second-round pick with 64 career receptions and 16 games missed because of injury, to suddenly realize expectations.
McDonald’s slight uptick in production last year prompted his surprising contract extension. Now, it wouldn’t be a surprise if he didn’t make the 53-man roster. Linebacker NaVorro Bowman: Perhaps the most decorated player on a starstarved roster, Bowman could be competing with a rookie and a player with zero Pro Bowls on his resume for playpick ing time.
That sounds silly, given Bowman’s All-Pro pedigree, but the 49ers didn’t use a first-round pick on Reuben Foster and give $11.5 million guaranteed to Malcolm Smith so those two players could serve as sideline decorations. The 49ers fell hard for Foster — they said he was third on their draft board — and defensive coordinator Robert Saleh spent three seasons (2011-13) in Seattle with Smith.
Meanwhile, Bowman has played in just 20 of 48 games the past three seasons because of two serious injuries to his left leg, including a torn Achilles in October. Lynch and Shanahan have responded to a report that they’ve tried to trade Bowman by offering a joint statement in which they said they hadn’t been “shopping” him.
That didn’t rule out the possibility that other teams took note of the 49ers’ moves for inside linebackers and initiated trade discussions.
Whatever the case, it’s clear Bowman, who signed a lucrative contract extension in August, will have to prove he’s still a front-line player, not a sub. Said Lynch of Bowman, Foster and Smith: “We’re going to let competition bring out the best in all of them.” Running back Carlos Hyde: The 49ers’ backfield the past two seasons: Hyde and The Who-Are-Theys.
With respect to Shaun Draughn, DuJuan Harris and Mike Davis, none of whom remains on the roster, Hyde has had zero competition for snaps ... until now.
The 49ers bolstered their backfield by utilizing all available avenues: free agency (Tim Hightower), trade (Kapri Bibbs), draft (fourth-round Joe Williams) and postdraft signing (undrafted rookie Matt Breida).
Before those moves, Shanahan and Lynch had offered measured praise of Hyde, a 2014 second-round pick who has missed 14 games because of injury. At the combine, Lynch said Hyde had unrealized potential and the 49ers hoped “to pull that out of him.”
If they can’t? They now have a few intriguing options, including Williams, a prospect for whom Shanahan and running backs coach Bobby Turner lobbied hard before the draft. Center Daniel Kilgore: In March, the 49ers traded for Jeremy Zuttah, the Ravens’ starting center for the past three seasons who was a Pro Bowl alternate last year. This month, they signed center Tim Barnes, who started all 32 games for the Rams the previous two seasons.
Shanahan places a high value on centers — his offense in Atlanta clicked last year partly because of the freeagent addition of Alex Mack — and he clearly wants other options beyond Kilgore, a 2011 fifth-round pick. Since becoming a starter in 2014, Kilgore has missed 23 of 48 games because of a broken ankle and torn hamstring.
Kilgore’s primary backup had been Marcus Martin, a 2014 third-round pick who was released two days before the start of free agency in March. With the additions of Zuttah and Barnes, Kilgore could be in danger of sharing Martin’s fate.