In March, 49ers general manager John Lynch was defiant.<\/p>\n
Sure, his front office had followed ownership\u2019s mandate to cut costs, jettisoning veteran (aka, expensive) depth and replacing it with no one in particular (cheap) during free agency, but as Lynch told this news organization: \u201cWe\u2019ve got this thing called the draft.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s how the Niners would backfill their roster: kids.<\/p>\n
Five months later, with the regular season just days away, that plan \u2014 if you could even call it that \u2014 looks even more foolish than it did then.<\/p>\n
The Niners trimmed their roster down to the NFL-mandated 53 players on Tuesday, but amid a slew of cuts and procedural moves, it\u2019s clear that San Francisco is still in the process of building their team.<\/p>\n
Was there bad luck involved in this debacle? Absolutely. The Niners were ravaged by injuries in the preseason, with both young players and the off-the-street free agents brought in to replace them going down so frequently, I\u2019m surprised the Niners haven\u2019t hired afterlife experts to investigate if the facility is cursed.<\/p>\n
Then again, the players that are most injured in the NFL are off-the-street free agents (injury concerns are likely why they were available) and young players (who are adapting to NFL size and speed and often pay for that education).<\/p>\n
In all, it left the 49ers with a roster on Tuesday that included only two healthy wide receivers (one was acquired in a trade last week), 10 offensive linemen, 11 defensive linemen (because when not one of your depth guys proves they\u2019re NFL worthy, you just have to keep them all), and no punter.<\/p>\n
This team went from confident and, frankly, a bit cocky to cutting players they need for Week 1 so they can try to add players other teams cut on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Then again, those soon-to-be-signed players will also be needed in Week 1.<\/p>\n
Yep, that\u2019s the Niners\u2019 new depth plan \u2014 cut-day cast-offs.<\/p>\n
All of this might seem overdramatic. I\u2019ve certainly heard your complaints about my general pessimism about the Niners\u2019 roster.<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s important to remember that the Niners do, indeed, have truly great players \u2014 Brock Purdy, Trent Williams, George Kittle, Fred Warner, Christian McCaffrey \u2014 and a few other Pro-Bowl caliber talents on the roster.<\/p>\n
But this isn\u2019t fantasy football. In the NFL, a team is only as good as its depth. And if any team should know that, it\u2019s the constantly injured 49ers.<\/p>\n
And after a 2024 that was torpedoed because of a lack of worthwhile backups, the Niners did nothing appreciable to improve in that area for the 2025 season.<\/p>\n
(Now, 2026 and beyond is a different story.)<\/p>\n
Faced with that fact, they went scrambling before the roster deadline to swing trades for players who can actually play. On Tuesday, they were cute with cuts and keeps.<\/p>\n
This team is still a mile wide and an inch deep. The time to fix that was in March, during NFL free agency. It\u2019s certainly not something that can be rectified in the final days of August.<\/p>\n
The Niners\u2019 bizarre cut-down day showed that this team is in purgatory. They\u2019re too talented at the top end to be terrible, but not good enough everywhere else to be great.<\/p>\n
It results in a team that can cut their punter for procedural reasons \u2014 specifically so they can punt on other roster decisions.<\/p>\n
The Niners kept receiver Jauan Jennings on the active 53-man roster on Tuesday, despite his calf injury that may or may not be directly tied to his desire to sign a new contract with the team. (I guess stress truly does manifest in the body.)<\/p>\n
San Francisco reportedly considered placing Jennings on injured reserve (with a designation to return) as a means to call his bluff and end this unusual standoff.<\/p>\n
But the Niners\u2019 front office decided to table that possibility, so they cut someone to keep Jennings on the active roster, even though there\u2019s no public indication he\u2019ll be active (be that because of injury or personal choice) anytime soon.<\/p>\n
The Niners also punted a decision on second-year receiver Jacob Cowing, who has battled hamstring injuries all camp and isn\u2019t expected to play for weeks if not months.<\/p>\n
On cut-down day, the NFL allows teams to place two players on injured reserve with a designation to return. San Francisco only used one spot.<\/p>\n
Can Cowing return? Do the Niners even want Cowing to return? Faced with a deadline, Lynch and company couldn\u2019t make the call, so they cut a veteran who they can keep in town for a day or two \u2014 punter Thomas Morstead, Gage, or receiver Robbie Chosen, take your choice \u2014 so they can circle back later this week.<\/p>\n
Going through hoops for a wide receiver with four NFL catches (and seemingly as many days of training camp practice) doesn\u2019t sound like something a good team does.<\/p>\n
But that\u2019s where the Niners are as preparation for the season starts, in earnest.<\/p>\n
The San Francisco roster released on Tuesday isn\u2019t final, and that\u2019s a good thing. San Francisco will certainly be adding more players \u2014 both ones already employed and new to the squad \u2014 in the coming days. They have no other choice.<\/p>\n
But not one of them will change this team\u2019s trajectory, though. Players who can do that aren\u2019t available in late August. But after crapping out on their original plan, they\u2019re the only option the Niners have left.<\/p>\n