Two days have passed since our first 53-man projection of training camp and we've had some pretty significant changes through free agency. Although free agency technically doesn't really end and players can still be added, the 49ers training camp roster is just about set. The team currently has 85 players signed, with five more open spots if they choose to add bodies. Braylon Edwards remains an option so we'll adjust accordingly if he comes to town.

I had to go out on a limb with some of the players on my projection, particularly the 3rd quarterback role. I actually still think the 49ers could bring in a veteran if they're not satisfied with Jeremiah Masoli or McLeod Bethel-Thompson. For now though, I'm going to stick with the theory of Masoli in a super utility role. The third QB position on this roster is the most tenuous among my choices and we very well could see a veteran brought in at some point. Or maybe the 49ers go with only two QBs. Who knows.

Check over this roster projection and let me know if I'm way off base with any of these? I think there are some borderline folks, but other than Masoli do any of these picks seem inconceivable?

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Fooch's Note: Site decorum is on and will remain so until the 49ers preseason opener August 12.

Jonathan Goodwin signed a three year contract with the 49ers earlier this afternoon and will likely make his way right into the starting center position. Adam Snyder has done yeoman's work as the training camp center, but with no center experience it was going to be a tough learning curve. It worked somewhat well for David Baas (enough to get him a sizable contract), but I'd imagine the team did not want to try their luck twice.

Assuming Goodwin does take over as starting center, the question becomes what happens to the rest of the offensive line. While Snyder will likely compete with Chilo Rachal at right guard, he appears slotted to be a backup across the line as a sort of Mr. Versatility. If that's the case, it will be interesting to see how it impacts the rest of the roster battles on the line.

I've been chatting with Tre and others on twitter about this. As it currently stands, the 49ers offensive line will definitely include Joe Staley, Anthony Davis, Chilo Rachal, Mike Iupati, Jonathan Goodwin, and Adam Snyder. After that you could argue everything else is up in the air. Tony Wragge signed a one-year deal but if Snyder can sufficiently back up across the line, maybe he doesn't stick around? You could make the argument that his roster spot is more secure if Snyder wins the starting right guard battle since Chilo doesn't play center.

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The significant portion of free agency is coming to an end and while the 49ers do appear to still have some holes on their roster, we can start to better assess what the 53-man roster could look like in five weeks from now. Matt Maiocco has begun a preliminary look at training camp performances, focusing today on the defensive players. We're less than a week into camp but after the first day off, now is as good a time as any to start assessing how folks are improving or hurting their chances of making the roster.

After the jump I've broken down the current roster into three groups. The first is "53-man roster" and is the group that of players I feel are locks or I have a lot of confidence they'll end up on the roster for one reason or another. This group could obviously chance with additional free agency moves. Given the delay in getting a deal done with Aubrayo Franklin I've left him entirely off the list. Might as well not tempt karma multiple times.

The second group is "question marks". These guys have something about them that raises just enough doubt that I'm not quite prepared to move them on to the 53-man roster quite yet. There are some guys on the 53-man roster that would be question marks for you, just like there are people I consider question marks that you would post as locks. A good example of this would be a guy like Alex Boone. I think there is a good chance he makes the 53-man roster, but with a new coaching staff it is really hard to tell what their long-term plan is at the tackle position. Right now he would appear to be the best option for the swing tackle role, but I'm holding off for now. He is arguably as close to a lock as any of the question marks, but we'll see how it plays out.

The final group I've described as "unknown/longshots" because I simply don't know enough about them to say for certain where they belong.

As it currently stands, I have 39 players on my 53-man roster, 22 players as question marks, and 20 players as unknowns. I've got a few more comments after the 53-man roster following the jump.        

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49ers beat writer Matt Barrows put together a post today indicating that cornerback Phillip Adams is ahead of schedule in rehab as he looks to rebound from his brutal ankle injury last season. Adams broke his left ankle and appeared doomed to miss a sizable chunk of offseason training. As Barrows points out, a seventh round pick cannot afford to miss much practice or he quickly becomes "out of sight, out of mind."

Before the injury, Phillip Adams had shown a fair amount of promise. He spent a sizable chunk of his time on special teams, but from what I can remember he looked rather solid when he received opportunities in the secondary. He's got a lot of work to do to work his way into consistent playing time. However, if he can get as close to 100% healthy as possible by the time the lockout ends, he could be in a position to make a name for himself in the the Vic Fangio defense.

Given the 49ers concerns in the secondary, it will be all hands on deck once training camp actually begins. The 49ers drafted two cornerbacks in this year's draft: Chris Culliver in the third round and Curtis Holcomb in the seventh round. While we wait to see what the 49ers might or might not do in free agency, we can still look at the corners currently in place.

Prior to the draft, the top four corners on the team were Nate Clements, Shawntae Spencer, Tarell Brown, and Will James. When training camp gets going, competition will likely include some of all of those four (pending Clements' contract, and James' free agent status) along with Culliver, Holcomb, Adams, and Tramaine Brock. The question is what kind of playing time the latter four will be competing for as compared to the first four.

Depending on how free agency plays out, I'd imagine the 49ers probably let Will James walk. However, that still leaves an interesting battle for the third and fourth cornerback positions. Holcomb's best roster chance right now would likely be on special teams. If Adams is sufficiently healthy by the start of training camp his one year of playing time will give him a sizable advantage over Holcomb, even with the new Fangio defense.

How do you think the depth chart emerges at the cornerback position? I realize several significant roster changes could very well happen between now and training camp. Nonetheless I'm curious how you at least rank these corners in terms of expected playing time as the roster currently stands.

So Saturday is the day when teams have to cut their roster down to 53 players. I suspect we'll be seeing more than a few announcements later today as players who never had a chance are let go. In that vein I wanted to write up a brief post explaining some of the ins and outs of roster moves in the pre-season, as well as some definitions. 

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Now that we're through what most consider the most important preseason game of the year, writers are posting their 53-man roster projections with greater and greater frequency. The 49ers cut down to 75 players yesterday and will cut another 22 players on Saturday to meet the NFL's roster limit. At this point we've got a fairly good idea of a vast majority of the roster, but there are still some small areas to be determined.

Matt Barrows put together a 53-man roster projection yesterday. I posted my own two days ago before the 49ers defeated the Raiders. I think Barrows made the best comment in his when he stated "Margin of error +/- 53 players. But really we know it's not quite that difficult. It's more like a margin of error of 4 or 5 players probably: those bubble players.

The differences in our projection are fairly simple. I included OT Alex Boone whereas he did not. That put me at ten offensive linemen to his nine. He made up for that with Demetric Evans as a seventh defensive lineman, while I stuck with six.

Beyond that, we had the exact same projections, whether you're talking about the inclusion of Nate Byham, the exclusion of Curtis Taylor, or rolling out nine linebackers. As I said, the differences are fairly negligible when talking about these rosters. The bubble has narrowed considerably over the past week.

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Last month I put together my first 53-man roster projection for the 49ers roster, and among the players included was OLB Travis LaBoy. LaBoy was signed to a relatively cheap one year deal in part because of major injury issues during his NFL career. He's an extremely talented pass rush threat, but in six years he never once played a full 16-game schedule. If he could remain healthy, he would make for a huge addition to a developing 49ers pass rush. Imagine rolling him out with Parys Haralson, Manny Lawson and Ahmad Brooks. The pass rush by committee would be absolutely filthy.

And yet, once again LaBoy finds himself battling injuries. This time around LaBoy is dealing with a concussion that has kept him out of recent practices. As with any injury, there is some benefit for the team in that Diyral Briggs is able to get more practice. When I put together that first 53-man projection, I had Briggs as one of the first five out and LaBoy as one of the last five in.

When I put together the first training camp battles post I didn't include any battle between Briggs and LaBoy. However, even before LaBoy's concussion, I probably should have included it. So, we're making up for it here. I've included a poll (and in fact we may have polled this before) to see what people think about the Briggs-LaBoy battle for a roster spot, or if it even is a battle.

Every year it seems like there is at least one or two surprising players that are included on or excluded from the 49ers 53-man roster. We ran a post last year discussing this very issue and I thought it would be fun to discuss it again this year with training camp officially underway.

As I mentioned last year, certain players develop a cult-like following and fans buy into that particular player for reasons that go beyond the skills he brings to the table. Past players like this have included Jay Moore (my guy), Thomas Clayton, and the perpetual inclusion of Dominique Zeigler.

In looking at the roster this year, there is a considerably greater amount of depth across the board, which means some favorites won't be sticking around. Given the depth, I wonder how many truly big surprises there could be. Is there anybody that has officially grabbed the reins as a guy that people really would be surprised to see not make the final cut?

As always, we're not talking about guys like Alex Smith, Michael Crabtree, Frank Gore, Justin Smith, etc. This is a question of players that truly are closer to the bubble, but might seem far enough off one way or the other to create a legitimate level of surprise.

While many might disagree, Brit Miller would seem to be such a guy. Given Moran Norris' advancing age and struggles in recent seasons, I'd imagine a lot of folks would be surprised and even a bit annoyed if he didn't make the roster. Do many folks even consider him on the bubble at this point? I personally think he is, but I'm sure there are some folks that feel otherwise.

However, we've beaten the Brit Miller discussion to death. Let's try and explore the studio space a bit, and get more creative. So, let's move past guys like Miller and Zeigler, and focus in on some other folks. Given all the battles on the offensive line, would seeing Adam Snyder get cut surprise anybody? I don't think he's going anywhere because, while he has struggled at times, he does bring some solid G/T versatility. Accordingly, consider him a guy I would be mildly surprised to see cut.

If we look at the safety position, reports have Taylor Mays moving from third string to second string after a day of practice, so he's clearly making up ground. If he were to excel at a particularly high level, could Michael Lewis become a roster victim? He'd quality as a surprise cut, but I can't say I'd be 100% surprised. I think the team needs his veteran presence, and I don't see Mays surpassing him this training camp. But, crazier things have happened.

So what players qualify in these categories for you?