53-man roster projection: Post OTAs/minicamp look

The San Francisco 49ers wrapped up minicamp last week, and we're now a little under one month away from the start of training camp. With the free time on our hands, I figured we might as well do another 53-man roster projection. I put together the first projection the Monday after the draft. The 49ers wrapped up their UDFA signings fairly quickly, so we had a pretty good idea of how the 90-man roster would look. The first look was never going to be perfect, but it gave us a base line as we progressed through the offseason and into training camp.

We've had some small changes to the roster since the draft, most notably the departure of Eric Wright. In my first 90-man projection, I had Eric Wright making the roster. I looked at it like Wright, Perrish Cox, and Chris Cook were competing for no more than one or two roster spots. I was off-base with that conclusion. Cox is competing primarily at nickel back, while Cook is competing on the outside. Wright was working outside, but retired not too long after Fangio wanted to move him in to nickel for practice. Maybe it's connected, maybe not, but that's the timeline.

The only other notable changes I made were adding LaMichael James and removing Will Tukuafu, and adding Quinton Dial and removing Demarcus Dobbs. LMJ looked confident enough as the punt returning in minicamp, that I'll give him the edge for a roster spot for now. That could very well change depending on how others look in the role in the preseason, but for now, he's the 49ers best option there. Dobbs has been a solid special teams contributor, and was a big part of the defensive line rotation last season. The return of Tank Carradine, and other versatile special teams options might just be enough to remove him. I could see Dobbs, Raymond Ventrone, Blake Costanzo and Kassim Osgood all competing for a similar roster spot. The 49ers also could do something similar to last year where they cut Osgood at the end of camp, and then signed him for Week 2.

Finally, I removed Luke Marquardt from the practice squad, replacing him with safety James McCray. I think I'll get some of these guys right, but it's a guessing game when it comes to who the 49ers like as developmental talent. The preseason will potentially tell us a bit more.

QB (2): Colin Kaepernick, Blaine Gabbert
RB (5): Frank Gore, Kendall Hunter, Marcus Lattimore, Carlos Hyde, LaMichael James
FB (1): Bruce Miller, Will Tukuafu
WR (5): Michael Crabtree, Anquan Boldin, Stevie Johnson, Quinton Patton, Bruce Ellington
TE (3): Vernon Davis, Vance McDonald, Garrett Celek
OT (3): Joe Staley, Anthony Davis, Jonathan Martin
OG (3): Alex Boone, Mike Iupati, Joe Looney
C (2): Daniel Kilgore, Marcus Martin

DL (7): Justin Smith, Ray McDonald, Glenn Dorsey, Ian Williams, Tony Jerod-Eddie, Quinton Dial Demarcus Dobbs, Tank Carradine
OLB (4): Ahmad Brooks, Corey Lemonier, Aaron Lynch, Dan Skuta
ILB (4): Patrick Willis, Michael Wilhoite, Nick Moody, Chris Borland
CB (6): Tramaine Brock, Chris Culliver, Chris Cook Eric Wright, Jimmie Ward, Darryl Morris, Dontae Johnson
FS (2): Eric Reid, Craig Dahl
SS (3): Antoine Bethea, C.J. Spillman, Raymond Ventrone

K (1): Phil Dawson
P (1): Andy Lee
LOS (1): Kevin McDermott

Suspended (1): Aldon Smith
PUP (1): NaVorro Bowman
NFI (3): Trey Millard, Brandon Thomas, Keith Reaser

Practice Squad (8): OT Luke Marquardt S James McCray, DL Lawrence Okoye, QB Kory Faulkner, DL Kaleb Ramsey, CB Kenneth Acker, OG Ryan Seymour, WR Chuck Jacobs, OT Carter Bykowski

Here is the current full roster for purposes of sorting out your own projection.