*Projected* Niners Depth Chart (Updated 9/5/09)

I think that Jason Hill is in real trouble. I was shocked not to see him earlier in either preseason game, and when he did hit the field, he did nothing to seperate himself from the rest of the guys that won't have jobs come week 1. He has been a real disappointment IMO. He of all people should have taken full advantage of A) Crabtree's ignorance B)The injury to B. Jones and C) the age of Arnaz Battle!

Originally posted by English:
Excellent thread.

Oldman: with Franklin gone and Mitchell on PS I am curious as to who are you starting at NT and who is the depth? Balmer?

I would have Sopoaga starting (unless Balmer outshines him) at NT. When Sop needs rest, then Balmer can slide from LDE to NT while Evans or RJF takes LDE. If someone gets injured, then enter Mitchell from the PS.

I honestly think any of the 3 above can play the 3-4 NT better than Franklin... but that's just me and from my time studying his play over the years.

Originally posted by oldman9er:

Originally posted by English:
Excellent thread.

Oldman: with Franklin gone and Mitchell on PS I am curious as to who are you starting at NT and who is the depth? Balmer?

I would have Sopoaga starting (unless Balmer outshines him) at NT. When Sop needs rest, then Balmer can slide from LDE to NT while Evans or RJF takes LDE. If someone gets injured, then enter Mitchell from the PS.

I honestly think any of the 3 above can play the 3-4 NT better than Franklin... but that's just me and from my time studying his play over the years.

Franklin isn't going anywhere. I'm not saying the guy is great or anything, but he seems to be a coach/player favorite.

And to be honest, I thought he played pretty well last night.

Originally posted by jreff22:

Originally posted by Faithful1978:
Call me crazy but I think Alex gets cut if he doesnt win the starting job. Huard is probably a better backup and we cant leave Davis unprotected on the PS. I think we need other positions to greatly to keep 4 QBs...

I'm not sure many teams would pluck Davis off the PS. Reason being he would count against their final 53 and the time he would need to learn their playbook with his dyslexia wouldn't make it worth the effort. I see him being safe for now.

It's too much of a risk. This kid looks legit. I'd rather cut Smith or Huard.

Originally posted by AKfanster:

Originally posted by oldman9er:

Originally posted by English:
Excellent thread.

Oldman: with Franklin gone and Mitchell on PS I am curious as to who are you starting at NT and who is the depth? Balmer?

I would have Sopoaga starting (unless Balmer outshines him) at NT. When Sop needs rest, then Balmer can slide from LDE to NT while Evans or RJF takes LDE. If someone gets injured, then enter Mitchell from the PS.

I honestly think any of the 3 above can play the 3-4 NT better than Franklin... but that's just me and from my time studying his play over the years.

Franklin isn't going anywhere. I'm not saying the guy is great or anything, but he seems to be a coach/player favorite.

And to be honest, I thought he played pretty well last night.

I would be surprised if he were gone suddenly as well... which is why I stated earlier that the roster projection was what I wanted more so than what I expected.

I can't judge his performance last night... will be another hour or so until I can watch last night's game.

Nice job! Gonna come down to some tough cuts!

Mark Roman sucks.... he proved it once again in the Raiders game.

Please, cut Roman's slow as mollasses, non-instincktive butt!

Originally posted by BigMar:
Mark Roman sucks.... he proved it once again in the Raiders game. Please, cut Roman's slow as mollasses, non-instincktive butt!

cosigned. cut roman, he cant cover, he gives up big plays, blows assignments-look at murphy's touchdown catch for example- and he gets tossed aside like a rag doll. at this point i think hes done.

i would keep khalif mitchell, i really like him. id also keep jason hill because he did so well late last year, and im having second thoughts about battle because he hasnt been getting open lately. keep rjf and hudson too.

Originally posted by Faithful1978:
Call me crazy but I think Alex gets cut if he doesnt win the starting job. Huard is probably a better backup and we cant leave Davis unprotected on the PS. I think we need other positions to greatly to keep 4 QBs...

Um, no

Originally posted by HessianDud:

Originally posted by Faithful1978:
Call me crazy but I think Alex gets cut if he doesnt win the starting job. Huard is probably a better backup and we cant leave Davis unprotected on the PS. I think we need other positions to greatly to keep 4 QBs...

you are crazy.

If he doesn't win the starting job he gets cut? Hmmm. But we will keep two guys that aren't even in the competition on the roster? Sorry, don't think so.

Depending what Davis does in the next two preseason games, I believe Huard is odd man out.

Smith>Huard

Originally posted by oldman9er:
Final 53 Man Roster

Offense (26)
OL (9): Staley, Snyder, Baas, Heitmann, Rachal, M. Smith, Wragge, Boone, Wallace
QB (3): Hill, A. Smith, N. Davis
TE (3): V. Davis Walker & Pascoe
RB (5): Gore, Coffee, Norris, Robinson & Sheets
WR (6): Bruce, Morgan, Jones, Battle, Crabtree & Hill

Defense (24)
DL (5): Sopoaga, Evans, J. Smith, Balmer & Jean-Francios
ILB (4): Willis, Spikes, McKillop & Ulbrich
OLB (5): Haralson, Lawson, Brooks, Moore & Harris
S (4): Lewis, Goldson, R. Smith & Hudson (CB/S)
CB (6): Clements, Bly, Brown, Spencer, Green, Rossum (KR)

Special Teams (3)
P: Lee
PK: Nedney
LS: Jennings

Practice Squad (8)
OL: Bender (if eligible) or Howard
OLB: Briggs
WR: Zeigler
S: Taylor
FB: Miller
DL: Mitchell (NT)
QB: possibly Nate Davis, if he plays poorly in the next 2 weeks

PUP (1)
DE: McDonald

* People may think I'm nuts over some choices. This is not how I expect it to go, but what I would do.

- Hudson slides to safety/CB backup... dumping Roman
- Dumping/trading Aubrayo Franklin... just don't think enough of him
- N. Davis or Huard just depends on the next 2 weeks
- I don't think enough of TE Finley, so replaced with an impressive Mitchell on PS
- Really want Boone on that 53 man roster... he'll be well worth it someday soon
- I would like to keep J Hill... even though it means 6 total WRs

I would move Hudson to safety and keep Green at cornerback but I doubt the team will cut Roman. Aubrayo Franklin isn't going anywhere and while I like Alex Boone and his upside, it's doubtful he will beat out Barry Sims for a roster spot. You can be sure Boone will be on our PS if he clears waivers. Everything else I pretty much agree with.

Franklin has played pretty well considering the end of last season and he blew up the raiders oline lastnight. I would like to see mitchell with the number ones or twos cause so far he has looked unstopable against the threes.

QB's (3)- Shuan Hill; Alex Smith; Nate Davis (tough call here, they could keep Huard and if we get an injury or two and need an extra roster spot we would cut hm and then maybe sign him back later. I wish we could just put Nate Davis on IR and keep Huard as the 3rd QB)

RB's/FB's (5)- Frank Gore; Glenn Coffee; Kory Sheets; Moran Norris; Michael Robinson

WR's (6)- Josh Morgan; Issac Bruce; Arnaz Battle; Brandon Jones; Jason Hill; Michael Crabtree? If Crabtree doesen't sign before the season I think Spurlock makes it

TE's (3)- Vernon Davis; Delaine Walker; Bear Pascoe


O-Line (9)- Joe Staley; David Baas; Eric Heitman; Chilo Rachal; Adam Snyder; Marvel Smith; Tony Wragge; Cody Wallace; Barry Sims


D-Line (6)- Justin Smith; Aubrayo Franklin; Demetric Evans; Issac Sopoaga; Kentwan Balmer and either Ricky Jean-Francois makes it and Ray McDonald starts the year on the PUP list or McDonald makes it and Jean-Francois ends up (hopefully) on the PS


Linebackers (8)- Patrick Willis; Takeo Spikes; Manny Lawson; Parys Haralson; Ahmad Brooks; Marques Harris; Jeff Ulbrich; Scott McKillop (I wouldn't be totally shocked if Justin Roland some how made the team)

Defensive backs (10)- Nate Clements; Dre Bly; Dashon Goldson; Michael Lewis; Tarrell Brown; Shawntae Spencer; Reggie Smith; Marcus Hudson; Mark Roman; Allen Rossum (Im hoping we dump Roman and keep Eric Green but I doubt that happens and I really hope we do not cut Hudson)

Specialists (3): Joe Nedney; Andy Lee; Brian Jennings


Practice Squad;
Curtis Taylor
Dominique Ziegler
Kyle Howard
Alex Boone
Jay Moore
Brit Miller
Jean-Francois?
That is a pretty decent practice squad. I hope we find a way to keep Taylor and Boone, both have a lot of upside.

Originally posted by Kolohe:

Originally posted by matt49er:

Originally posted by Kolohe:
I'd rather keep Hudson over Roman. Hudson can help out at both Safety and Corner.

Safeties: Lewis, Goldson, Smith, Taylor

Corners: Clements, Bly, Brown, Spencer, Green, Hudson

As for the D-line, I would keep Jean-Francois over D. Evans.

DL - Smith, Sopoaga, Franklin, Balmer, Jean-Francois

You only have 5 DL, we're def keeping 6 IMO I think RJF and Evans stay. Especially until R.Mcdonald comes back.

We run a 3 man line, we would have a good enough rotation with Franklin and Sopoaga or Balmer filling in at the Nose. Not to mention RJF could fill in anywhere on the line. Mitchell could always be kept on the practice squad if needed.

What would be the sense in keeping 6 D-lineman??

Depth in case of injury . . . same reason we keep 8 or 9 o-linemen. It's brutal in the trenches.

Originally posted by SanFranAddic:

Originally posted by jreff22:

Originally posted by Faithful1978:
Call me crazy but I think Alex gets cut if he doesnt win the starting job. Huard is probably a better backup and we cant leave Davis unprotected on the PS. I think we need other positions to greatly to keep 4 QBs...

I'm not sure many teams would pluck Davis off the PS. Reason being he would count against their final 53 and the time he would need to learn their playbook with his dyslexia wouldn't make it worth the effort. I see him being safe for now.

It's too much of a risk. This kid looks legit. I'd rather cut Smith or Huard.

He's looked legit in 1 preseason game, Huard has actual vet experience.