The San Francisco 49ers are officially halfway through their 2017 preseason schedule, and have wrapped up their open training camp schedule. There is plenty of evaluation still to be done, but practice is now closed to the media.
Now that we have reached this point, it is time to take a look at where the bubble watch stands. We have not done a formal bubble watch look since late June. We took a look at the potential 53-man roster Monday morning, but for the rest of the week, we will be taking a look at the bubble watch for each position. Today, we move on to the wide receivers.
Lock: Pierre Garçon, Marquise Goodwin, Jeremy Kerley, Trent Taylor, Aldrick Robinson
Strong Bubble: Victor Bolden, Kendrick Bourne, Aaron Burbridge
Weak Bubble: DeAndre Carter, DeAndre Smelter, Tim Patrick, Louis Murphy
Longshot: None
The most notable changes I made from our June bubble watch included upgrading Aldrick Robinson from strong bubble to lock, and upgrading Victor Bolden, Kendrick Bourne, and Aaron Burbridge from weak bubble to strong bubble.
I’ve seen plenty of comments from people suggesting Robinson is not going to make the roster. In two games he has shown solid speed after the catch. He knows what Kyle Shanahan is looking to do, having played with him in Atlanta. The rookies have impressed thus far, but I just don’t see Robinson not making the roster at this point.
On Wednesday, Shanahan talked about roster decisions and said, “On average, you usually keep about six receivers.” He has been places that have gone five or seven deep, but it seems like six is the most likely result. If that’s the case, it will come down to special teams. The sixth receiver is unlikely to get a lot of playing time as a receiver, and so he’ll need to contribute on special teams. Victor Bolden and Aaron Burbridge have shown their chops there, while Bourne has only gotten one snap in each of the first two preseason games. That would not seem to bode well for him at this point.