49ers 53-man roster projection: The final countdown

Late last night, I was poking around the Internet and I came across Christian Gin's final 53-man roster projection. I skimmed over it, and I realized as I was reading it, that I agreed pretty much entirely with his projections. I suppose it's a bit of a cop-out for this final projection, but after all I read yesterday, both in his comments and those of the other beat writers, it just made sense.

I will say that Cam Johnson was moved into my 53-man roster with the departure of Parys Haralson. Last night he confirmed why he deserved that spot with a performance for the preseason ages. He finished the game with six tackles, two sacks, several QB pressures and the block and touchdown recovery. Can the 49ers really justify trying to slip him through waivers?

The changes I made with this final projection were removing Chad Hall (sorry random dude who thinks I have a Chad Hall fetish) and Trenton Robinson. I replaced them with Raymond Ventrone and Michael Thomas.

Ventrone spent Thursday evening serving as Andy Lee's personal protector. That is the man behind the center who as the job states, is protecting the punter. Dashon Goldson filled that role the last few years. Ventrone is listed as a safety, but he has gotten no time at the position. He is exclusively a special teamer, and he could very well be a guy who gets that Blake Costanzo-type of role.

I bumped Michael Thomas ahead of Trenton Robinson because he has shown solid strides this year, and the team seems down on Robinson. While Robinson has gotten some first-team special teams work, his safety work has generally been late in games. Thomas has been getting a lot of work, particularly in the slot corner role, and it seems like he has generally excelled. He had the mistake where he dropped the sure interception, but otherwise, I'd say he's been very solid this preseason.

What say you?

OFFENSE
QB (3): Colin Kaepernick, Colt McCoy, B.J. Daniels
RB (3): Frank Gore, Kendall Hunter, LaMichael James
FB (2): Bruce Miller, Anthony Dixon
WR (5): Anquan Boldin, Kyle Williams, Quinton Patton, Marlon Moore, Jon Baldwin, Chad Hall
TE (3): Vernon Davis, Vance McDonald, Garrett Celek
OT (3): Joe Staley, Anthony Davis, Adam Snyder
OG (3): Mike Iupati, Alex Boone, Joe Looney
C (2): Jonathan Goodwin, Daniel Kilgore

DEFENSE
DE (3): Justin Smith, Ray McDonald, Tony Jerod-Eddie
NT (3): Ian Williams, Glenn Dorsey, Will Tukuafu
OLB (5): Ahmad Brooks, Aldon Smith, Corey Lemonier, Dan Skuta, Cam Johnson
ILB (4): Patrick Willis, NaVorro Bowman, Michael Wilhoite, Nick Moody
FS (3): Eric Reid, Craig Dahl, Trenton Robinson Michael Thomas
SS (3): Donte Whitner, C.J. Spillman, Raymond Ventrone
CB (5): Carlos Rogers, Tarell Brown, Nnamdi Asomugha, Tramaine Brock, Perrish Cox

SPECIAL TEAMS
K (1): Phil Dawson
P (1): Andy Lee
LOS (1): Brian Jennings

NFI: Eric Wright, Cornellius Carradine, Quinton Dial, Marcus Lattimore, Luke Marquardt

PUP: Mario Manningham, Michael Crabtree

Week 1 Suspension: Demarcus Dobbs

Last Five On: Adam Snyder, Trenton Robinson, Will Tukuafu, Tony Jerod-Eddie, Chad Hall

First Five Off: MarQueis Gray, Jewel Hampton, Marcus Cooper, Raymond Ventrone, Austin Collie

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