Welcome back to another round of the San Francisco 49ers bubble watch. The team is in the midst of their first round of roster cuts leading up to their preseason finale against the San Diego Chargers. The team has made two trades and released 12 players, and now sits at 77 players on the roster. They have to cut to 75 by 1 p.m. PT Tuesday, so before then, I thought we would update our bubble watch. You can compare it to our bubble watch from last week.
The most notable changes are of course the removal of 14 players, and the addition of Jeremy Kerley. Here are some additional changes I made:
1. Shaun Draughn from strong bubble to lock - Curtis Modkins confirmed Draughn is first on the depth chart behind Carlos Hyde. This is not a shocking revelation, but hearing a coach add this even as Draughn is dealing with a rib injury makes it easy to move him up.
2. Ray-Ray Armstrong from strong bubble to lock - It seems ridiculous to carry the ILB competition into Week 1, but nothing has changed in the rotation. Even if they make a decision, Armstrong brings depth at the position as well as special teams.
3. Mike Purcell from strong bubble to lock
4. Demetrius Cherry, B.J. McBryde from longshot to weak bubble
These last two go together because of Quinton Dial’s injury. He is wearing a knee brace, and is not participating in practice. It could end up not being a big deal, but there have been hints from beat writers that it is not a simple injury. We don’t know for certain, but I’m bumping up the defensive linemen. And given Ian Williams injury, and Glenn Dorsey’s uncertain status, Purcell makes sense as a lock.
Lock
QB: Blaine Gabbert, Colin Kaepernick
RB: Carlos Hyde, Shaun Draughn
WR: Torrey Smith, Bruce Ellington, Quinton Patton
TE: Garrett Celek, Blake Bell, Vance McDonald
OL: Joe Staley, Zane Beadles, Daniel Kilgore, Joshua Garnett, Trent Brown, Anthony Davis, Andrew Tiller
DL: Arik Armstead, Quinton Dial, DeForest Buckner, Glenn Dorsey, Ronald Blair, Mike Purcell
OLB: Aaron Lynch, Ahmad Brooks, Eli Harold, Tank Carradine
ILB: NaVorro Bowman, Gerald Hodges, Michael Wilhoite, Ray-Ray Armstrong
CB: Tramaine Brock, Jimmie Ward, Dontae Johnson, Will Redmond, Rashard Robinson, Chris Davis
S: Eric Reid, Antoine Bethea, Jaquiski Tartt
K: Phil Dawson
P: Bradley Pinion
LS: Kyle Nelson
Strong bubble
QB: Christian Ponder, Jeff Driskel
RB: Mike Davis, DuJuan Harris, Kelvin Taylor
WR: DeAndre Smelter, Dres Anderson, Aaron Burbridge, DeAndrew White, Jeremy Kerley
TE: Bruce Miller
OL: Marcus Martin, John Theus, Fahn Cooper
DL: Tony Jerod-Eddie, Garrison Smith
OLB: Corey Lemonier, Marcus Rush
ILB: Nick Bellore, Shayne Skov
CB: Keith Reaser
S: L.J. McCray, Marcus Cromartie
Weak bubble
QB: None
RB: None
WR: Bryce Treggs
TE: None
OL: Alex Balducci, Colin Kelly
DL: Demetrius Cherry, B.J. McBryde
OLB: None
ILB: None
CB: None
S: None
Longshot
QB: None
RB: None
WR: Devon Cajuste, Ryan Whalen
TE: Je’Ron Hamm
OL: Norman Price
DL: None
OLB: Jason Fanaika
ILB: None
CB: Prince Charles Iworah
S: None