The San Francisco 49ers traded Eli Harold to the Detroit Lions, and the roster overhaul continues in Santa Clara. Since arriving in the Bay Area, John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan have not been shy about unloading talent acquired under the previous regime. Following the Harold trade, the 49ers roster will contain 12 players who were around for the ignominious 2016 season.
The 12 players as follows, with their contract status following 2019 in parenthesis:
RB Raheem Mostert (RFA)
WR Aaron Burbridge (Signed through 2019)
TE Garrett Celek (Signed through 2019)
T Joe Staley (Signed through 2019)
G Josh Garnett (Signed through 2019 — 5th year option for 2020)
DL Arik Armstead (2019 is 5th year option, not fully guaranteed until 2019 league year)
DL Ronald Blair (Signed through 2019)
DT DeForest Buckner (2019 is 5th year option, not fully guaranteed until 2019 league year)
DB Jimmie Ward (UFA)
S Jaquiski Tartt (Signed through 2020)
P Bradley Pinion (UFA)
LS Kyle Nelson (UFA)
From the offensive group, Garnett and Burbridge appear firmly on the bubble in their competitions at right guard and wide receiver, respectively. I could see both on or off the roster, with little surprise on either end.
From the defensive group, Armstead and Ward. The team did exercise Armstead’s fifth year option, it’s only guaranteed for injury at this point. Ward is playing on his fifth year option, but the secondary is one area the team has a lot of young players they might prefer seeing He and Ward are two Baalke holdovers that easily could be gone sooner rather than later.
On special teams, Pinion remains on the bubble to a certain extent. The team has Jeff Locke competing with Pinion, and while I think Pinion holds onto his job, a guy in his walk year with this new regime is not guaranteed anything. Kyle Nelson is in his walk year as well, but the 49ers have no other long snapper, so he’s not going anywhere.