The San Francisco 49ers wrapped up minicamp and are now a month away from the start of training camp. The 90-man roster is just about set, although a transaction here or there would not be entirely shocking. Shortly after the draft we put together a complete roster bubble watch, and now it’s time to re-visit it. The offseason workout program did not lock in most roster spots, but it might give us some hints here and there.
Over the next two weeks, we’re going to take a look at each position, and what the bubble watch looks like. As we’ve done for a while 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. Additionally, this does not reflect whether or not a player will be traded. Trades can and probably will happen during training camp, but the positioning on this focuses on whether or not they’d be cut.
Quarterback
Running back
Wide receiver
Tight end
Tackle
Guard
Offensive Line
Defensive Line
Linebacker
Cornerback
Today, we’ll take a look at the offensive tackles.
Lock: Joe Staley, Mike McGlinchey
Strong Bubble: Garry Gilliam, Erik Magnuson, Darrell Williams
Weak Bubble: None
Longshot: Andrew Lauderdale, Pace Murphy, Jamar McGloster
I made a couple changes to this bubble watch compared to the post-draft version. First, I added Erik Magnuson at strong bubble. He is also listed at guard, but he has the versatility to potentially earn a swing role all around the line. The second change was to drop Andrew Lauderdale and Pace Murphy from weak bubble to longshot. Murphy is listed by some as guard, but either way, he’s a longshot.
Gilliam, Magnuson, and Williams is going to be an intriguing competition. Magnuson is likely to see snaps all over the place, but Gilliam and Williams will be duking it out for swing tackle work. Gilliam is the front-runner heading into training camp, and the team did just extend him for two years. The team signed Darrell Williams as an undrafted free agent last year, and after spending eight games on the practice squad, he joined the 53-man roster and was active seven of the final eight games of the season.
The team clearly likes Gilliam, but with Mike Person added in to compete with Erik Magnuson, will we see two veterans, or will Williams and/or Magnuson secure a roster spot?