The weekend is coming to a close, and with it, our bubble watch. Over the last ten days, we have gone through each of the San Francisco 49ers ten offensive and defensive position groups, and assessed who is where on the roster bubble. We wrap it up today with special teams.
As we’ve done for many years now, the bubble watch breaks down to lock, strong bubble, weak bubble, and longshot. For some positions, we'll have multiple players listed at strong bubble, even though not all are likely to make the roster. But the idea is that they both stand a good shot, even if it is just one of them. Thus far, we have looked at quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers, tight ends, offensive line, defensive line, outside linebackers, inside linebackers, cornerbacks, and safeties.
Lock: Phil Dawson, Bradley Pinion, Kyle Nelson
Strong bubble: None
Weak bubble: None
Longshot: John Lunsford
The San Francisco 49ers specialists are set. The team signed John Lunsford as an undrafted free agent, releasing Corey Acosta. I thought the team might keep Acosta around and have him eventually succeed Phil Dawson, but that was not to be. The 49ers gave Lunsford $10,000 in guaranteed money, including a $5,000 signing bonus, and a $5,000 base salary guarantee. It was sixth among the team’s 12 UDFA signings, which was at least moderately interesting.
At the very least, Lunsford will serve as a camp leg, who will get some chances to show the rest of the league what he can do. At some point, I wonder when the 49ers will look to the future at kicker. I doubt they sign Lunsford to the practice squad, but I suppose crazier things could happen. According to Dawson, he and Trent Baalke sat down and Baalke asked him if he wanted to play with the 49ers another year. Dawson said yes, and they got a deal done. I would not be surprised if Dawson plays another couple years. If he does leave, the 49ers certainly have plenty of cap space to just add another veteran rather than investing a draft pick in the position.