The 49ers got their roster down to 53. Just a few surprises. The biggest being Nate Sudsy Sudfeld getting the heave-ho. Purdy pretty much matched the output (good and bad) of Sudfelt, so they went with the young guy. Thus continuing the downward spiral of quarterbacks named Nate.
I would have shit-canned Sermon over Hasty, and Skule is a little bit of a head-scratcher as he was decent covering a few line spots, and they lack experience and consistency on the O line. Cutting Jordan Willis I guess shows the depth we have on the D line.
Poe will likely land on the practice squad. Castro-Fields as well. Same with Q Knight. They all showed flashes of talent. I think we can put Hasty on the PS but I’m not sure. They recently changed the rules.
And, in the biggest surprise, UDFA GA Tech RB Jordan Mason made the 53 man roster. I’m sure he’ll pass Trey Sermon on the depth chart by Friday.
Here are the moves made.
| The following players have been released: TE Troy Fumagalli S Tashaun Gipson Sr. CB Dontae Johnson WR Marcus Johnson TE Tyler Kroft OL Jordan Mills WR Willie Snead IV DL Akeem Spence QB Nate Sudfeld DL Kemoko Turay WR Malik Turner DL Jordan Willis | The following players have been waived: DL Kevin Atkins DL Alex Barrett CB Tariq Castro-Fields OL Alfredo Gutierrez RB JaMycal Hasty S Tayler Hawkins CB Qwuantrezz Knight WR Tay Martin LB Marcelino McCrary-Ball LB Segun Olubi OL Jason Poe OL Justin Skule OL Keaton Sutherland |
As far as the practice squad goes, it can now hold 16 players – with 6 having more that 2 years NFL experience. The signings will be happening all day today. I’ll update as needed.
San Francisco 49ers Forever 
There are a lot of good football players in that list most with a lot of potential. We just might have a really good team this year. I just hope the ball bounces our way.
Looks like the Lions signed Sudfeld(sp)
And we cutSermon. After cutting Hasty. Not sure why we didn’t try to keep Hasty if we were dumping Sermon.
They must be keeping Mason unless he’s gone somewhere else already. I am glad they didn’t keep Sermon just because he was a 3rd rounder. He was a bust from the beginning. I think we still have two spots to fill yet.
Just goes to show Shanny has a way with the bullshit, I think it was yesterday that he was talking him up.
Yeah, Mason made the 53 man roster. Shanny baffles the fuck out of me with these 3rd round RB picks. They’ve all sucked. At least he cut his losses fairly quickly. We’ll see if the Davis-Price is right, but I ain’t holding my breath.
Hasty is mediocre at best and prone to fumbling. I like the kid, but I’m glad they went with Mason instead. As for Sermon, he didn’t do shit. He’ll probably get snapped up pretty quickly. Good riddance.
Sudfeld being picked up by the Lions means the Niners are only on the hook for about $1M of his guaranteed salary. In the past few days, they’ve significantly fattened up their cap space. That’s a good thing.
Turay, Poe and Turner all made it to the practice squad:
DL Alex Barrett
S Tashaun Gipson Sr.
OL Alfredo Gutierrez*
S Tayler Hawkins
CB Qwuantrezz Knight
WR Tay Martin
LB Marcelino McCrary-Ball
OL Jason Poe
WR Willie Snead IV
DL Akeem Spence
OL Keaton Sutherland
DL Kemoko Turay
WR Malik Turner
looks good. Got a little bit of everything on there.
They have 3 more spots to fill for a total of 16.
They claimed an OL from Cleveland Blake Hance, and also resigned TE Kroft and DL Jordan Willis So I think that fills it up. But it probably is flexible if the right player comes along.
My mistake, those 3 that I just mentioned made the 53 man squad. So I believe there are 3 spots left on the PS.
Evidently, Gutierrez doesn’t count against the PS total either because he’s part of the international pathway program. So, four spots total left. I haven’t checked today to see if they’ve completed the squad yet.
Eagles grab Trey Sermon.
So the Chronicle Anne Killion talked about signing Jimmy as a backup QB and how the Niners didn’t want to have 3 Rookie QBs to start the season behind a shaky Oline. Why haven’t the Niners addressed there Oline the last few years. This should be talked about more on the radio, pod casts, news print etc, the Oline has been crap for the last 5 years ( I am going easy here, it has been crap since the Alex Smith years). Anyway can anyone enlighten me.
I don’t get it either. It must be coaching or else we don’t have the scouts to recognize OL talent.
We’ve been talking about it here for years. They finally got their shit together at CB after years of ignoring it, and they didn’t seem to plan for Mack’s retirement and let Tomlinson go.
Thanks for posting that ps stuff LJ.
14 hours on the road today driving my daughters car to Bozeman MT. My son got his pot taken away by an Idaho cop. Fuck Idaho. I told my son, if it was 30 years ago you’d be in the hoosegow for a month. For less than a quarter.
I listen to the Niners Nation pod almost every day and they’ve talked about the o-line stuff constantly. Kind of hard not to given how bad they are. If the Houston game is indicative of what they are, it’s shaping up to be a disaster. You think that would’ve been the one thing they addressed in the off season with an inexperienced QB taking the reins.
Let’s see what happens once Williams and McGlinchey are in there full time. That should help but that interior…yikes. Pressure up the gut is the worst kind.
One problem is that both Williams and McGlinchey get hurt at least once a year. I don’t think we have a good enough starting OLine as it is and I know our backups are not starting quality. If Lance gets hammered because of our Oline it is on Shanny and Lynch.
Letting Tomlinson walk was not a good move.
It was a terrible move to not sign Tomlinson. But they did the same thing with Buckner and it came back to bite em in the ass and so will this one.
Kinlaw is on the hook for the DeFo trade. He’d better be real or that is another wasted high pick.
If what everybody here is saying is true about how bad our O-line has been for 5 years, that would make Jimmy G’s trips to the NFC Title game twice and Super Bowl once quite an accomplishment. Yet, he and Shanny’s play calling gets almost zero credit.
I think our line has been decent in the last 3 or 4 years. Maybe a little above average. I am worried about this year. I can’t tell if maybe Hughes had a game of ages or if our line just sucks. That Houston game was a wake-up call.
The Oline has been great for run blocking, where as the pass coverage has been mediocre at best. You watch other teams that have an Oline that can pass protect their QB has time for their WR to run their routes and pass the ball down the field.
If our pass pro was so bad, where is the praise for Shanny’s play calling and Jimmy G’s QB play? Have you noticed our record when Jimmy starts?
We have a lot ?’s on the oline. I think I would be more surprised if Banks does a decent job. Then on the other side at guard we have the same thing. Who knows. As far as McGlinchey I can’t remember a game where he stood out. Not sure on our center either. We just gotta wait and see.
Sounds like an amazing trip, Unca! And tell your son not to fret, it happens.
I think our line will be good enough. Aside from Trent Williams and Joe Staley, who else was highly touted over the last few years? I think the scheme and the coaches can make players good and put them in a position to exceed. Hopefully lol
Tomlinson pretty much played all-pro guard for us the last few years.
Thanks, Joshua. Thankfully Montana is not as backwoods as Idaho. Back in the Bay. Crazy hot out there in Bozeman. It was 97 degrees there on Saturday.
Prolly gonna drive my LandCruiser out there in a couple weeks.
Sounds like another life adventure. Maybe you can actually see stars at night again and not have to deal with road noise. Good luck.
Yeah, not sure how this all works out. The work out there may last 4 months, or could go on for 5 years.
Good luck Unc. I think part of the problem with pass blocking is that colleges are overwhelmed by defensive studs on other side and it seems the O line guys are so huge/less mobile, and good ones harder to find. so many college teams go to spread offenses where athletic QBs just run after a second or two or if first look isn’t there and that’s how they beat the defense. Look what happened to Joe Burrow first year with Bengals after all he did with LSU lighting up teams with his arm and legs.
A little about the Oline from the Athletic
The 49ers will likely open the season on Sunday at Chicago with new starters along the entirety of their interior offensive line. Center Jake Brendel, left guard Aaron Banks, and rookie right guard Spencer Burford have seen the majority of first-team action at their respective positions throughout training camp and the preseason.
Brendel, Banks and Burford. Some might start calling them the “Law Firm,” thanks to the alliteration. The 49ers simply hope the trio can deliver competent play along a front that’s been leaky in pass protection over recent years. New starting quarterback Trey Lance’s early development might depend on it.
We’ve examined the 49ers’ hopes with Brendel (here), Banks (here) and Burford (here). Daniel Brunskill, who’s working back from a hamstring strain, should eventually serve as depth at all three of those spots, though he wasn’t back at practice Monday. Colton McKivitz and Jaylon Moore can also theoretically insulate the guard positions, although both have focused on bolstering San Francisco’s offensive tackle depth over the past month.
That leaves three relatively unknown newcomers to round out potentially vital depth of the 49ers’ interior O-line: Nick Zakelj, Blake Hance and Jason Poe. The first two are on the 53-man roster, while Poe signed onto the practice squad after the team waived him on cutdown day.
How’s this trio doing? General manager John Lynch spoke at length last Thursday, and Zakelj, Hance and Poe were primary discussion points.
Nick Zakelj
The 49ers drafted this rookie out of Fordham in the sixth round. (Zakelj’s Slovenian last name is correctly pronounced zah-KELL, but 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan jokingly calls him “Zakel J,” according to Lynch.)
Zakelj struggled mightily early in camp and into Week 1 of the preseason but surged late to earn a spot on the 53-man roster. Here’s the progression of Zakelj’s Pro Football Focus pass-blocking grades at guard over the 49ers’ three exhibition games: 22.3, 69.8 and 81.3.
go-deeper
GO DEEPER
‘He just loves to take people over mentally’: The rise of 49ers draftee Nick Zakelj
“He is just a guy who kept getting better every single day, and that’s what you want in this league,” Lynch said. “He came from a smaller school, lesser competition, and so probably it was an eye-opener when he got here, just like it was at the Senior Bowl. I remember (assistant GM) Adam (Peters) talking about that at the Senior Bowl, his Day 2 was so much better than his Day 1. And he’s got a lot in his body, and he just kept looking like more and more of an NFL player with every given day.”
It turns out Zakelj also saw rapid progress after he first enrolled at Fordham as a zero-star recruit from suburban Cleveland. His quick-learner track record has now stretched to the pros.
“Speed off the ball,” Zakelj said Monday. “That’s how (offensive line) coach (Chris) Foerster likes us to play. I think that’s something that took some getting used to. I think as I kind of refined the technique and got more comfortable doing it, I was able to increase that speed more and more and to a level I was comfortable with.”
The 49ers believe Zakelj’s progress can now translate into success at the O-line’s most cerebral position.
We don’t want to throw too much (at him), but we do believe that he has center in his future,” Lynch said. “And he’ll start snapping out here. We’ll make that part of this repertoire under the thought that the more you can do, the better for him, the better for us.”
Said Zakelj: “Even today I was kind of getting more reps at it, actually I was going against the defense, trying to work that. Because it’s a lot different than getting snaps pre-practice. It’s something that I want to add to my arsenal, being able to play center, and having as much versatility and really helping the team any way I can.”
Blake Hance
Running back Trey Sermon is no longer a 49er thanks in large part to Hance, who became available after roster cutdowns when Cleveland waived him. The 49ers, facing a litany of questions across the entire front, hopped at the chance to add O-line depth. They claimed Hance off waivers and cut Sermon to make room on the 53-man roster.
go-deeper
GO DEEPER
49ers mailbag: A look at Trey Lance’s leash; what’s the depth chart at tailback?
“He brings real five-position versatility, so sometimes we talk about guys’ versatility — he’s actually done it in our league,” Lynch said. “Played five positions and has that center versatility, which is so important. We put a claim in not knowing if we’d get him, and we were pleased when we did.”
Last week, Lynch said he hoped Brunskill would return from his hamstring injury this week but that “you just never know with those things.” The 49ers, then, have been hungry for a center to back up Brendel, and Hance might immediately step into that role Sunday.
Hance played 644 total snaps for Cleveland last season at both tackle spots, with PFF grading him as a solid run blocker (70.3) and poor pass protector (36.9). But during the 2020 playoffs, Hance played his lone game of NFL action at left guard for the Browns and delivered a very good 79.2 pass-blocking score.
Perhaps that will also come in handy for the 49ers.
“He has played left tackle, he has played right tackle,” Lynch said. “He’s played both guards, so we’re excited about that. Those guys are extremely useful.”
Said Hance on Monday about his transition from Cleveland to the 49ers: “There’s a lot of overlap in the schemes. Some of the calls are different and whatnot, but as far as the schemes, there’s a lot of similarities, a lot of wide zone and whatnot. It’s just getting used to the calls and the techniques.”
Jason Poe
Poe had a legitimate shot to crack the initial 53-man roster, as evidenced by the fact that he was taking some first-team snaps at practice in place of Banks. But the 49ers ended up waiving the undrafted rookie out of Mercer and praying he’d clear waivers so they could re-sign him to their practice squad.
“Poe, that was a tough one, man, because that guy, his fight,” Lynch said. “You talk about a guy you respect and just the joy he brings to playing football, I think it’s palpable. You feel it, and we were hanging on for dear life. That was a hard call, and the guys love him — like in the locker room when he makes a play, everybody, you hear it.”
Listed at 6-foot-1 (which 49ers’ star Trent Williams recently hinted might be generous), Poe is the shortest offensive lineman in the NFL. That usually translates into a disadvantage in pass protection. But Foerster has noted that Poe is built like a “bowling ball,”and that he actually leverages his low center of gravity into a blocking advantage.
“Guys like that, despite the challenges of being a little smaller, when you have heart, fight and it’s not just that — he has ability,” Lynch said. “Those guys tend to make it.”
Poe logged a 4.9 laser-timed 40-yard dash this offseason, which would’ve ranked second among offensive linemen at the NFL scouting combine (he was not invited to the event).
Lynch said the 49ers haven’t yet considered Poe for a role away from the offensive line. But the GM’s answer to a question about the 49ers potentially shifting Poe was revelatory about the team’s affinity for the rookie. They certainly don’t want Poe poached off their practice squad.
“My worries were some of these other teams in the league,” Lynch said. “Gosh, is someone going to bring him in as a guard/fullback/tight end? So I should probably shut up right now. I really like the young man.”
New thread is up. Winder, I’ll move this to the new one.