Five Non-Rookies You're Most Eager to Watch in Pre-Season

Just from last year's draft class?
1. Thomas - He needs to flash more often as a pass rusher to validate his potential as a game changing type of player. Solid is good, but a top 3 pick needs to be more than solid.

2. Colbert - Can he really be the fixture at FS for this defense? Many flashes last season and I'm hoping it wasn't a flash in the pan. What a gem it would be to find the starting FS - a critical component of this scheme - in the 7th round.

3. Witherspoon - Was showing a good transition into being a Cover3 CB after playing very little zone defense in college. I don't see a reason why he can't be considered as a potential "#1 CB". He has the athletic ability and he has the smarts. Now he gets to learn from one of the best.

4. Kittle - Can he emerge as a threat in the red zone, and can he improve on his run blocking to the point that he is the guy for this offense? Kyle has had possession receiver type TEs (Owen Daniels), and a big play type (Jordan Cameron). Which type is Kittle?

5. Foster - Will he shrug off the off field issues to continue being a a dominant LB?

Nice piece, OTC.

I too am particularly intrigued with Beathard. I see him following the same pattern as Garappolo in New England when he was sitting behind Brady and learning the fine points of the game. In this very competitive league, if you QB1 goes down, and you don't have a competent QB2, you can kiss off your season. Beathard showed last season that he had enough of the basics to win if the rest of the pieces began to fall into place. He is at least a future major trade piece a la Jimmy G.

A guy you didn't mention but one I am going to be watching is Arik Armstead. I want to see him have a good run while healthy and see what he can do. When healthy, he has flashed at times but with different systems and injuries, he has never really had a serious go at it.

Beathard (QB)
Williams (RB)
Bourne (WR)
Attaochu (DE/Elephant)
Toomer (LB)

If we are allowed to name players outside of last year's draft class, then I'll go with:
1. Thomas - please do something really good on the pass rush.
2. Attachou - please do something really good on the pass rush.
3. Colbert - keep making plays
4. Jet - do something to justify the high salary
5. Richberg - how much can a legit Center improve this offense?

Great idea for a thread. I agree with all of these.

RB: Raheem Mostert - Gotta see how he's recovered. Was a gunner demon with 4.3 speed who often times would be standing there waiting for the Pinion punt to come down. With his speed and Moore's 4.2 speed, these two could be the best duo-gunners in the NFL.
TE: George Kittle & Cole Hikutini - Fans forget how much "Brittle" was hurt last year. At the end of the year he finally got healthy and with each game got more and more explosion back. "DirtyTini" seems like he has some upside as well and will compete with Dwelley.
YWR: Trent Tylor - He's been working out hard and I'm sure he's trying to add to his YAC and long speed.
ZWR: Kendrick Bourne - Kyle personally challenged him and he could be hard to keep off the field
LOT: Garry Gilliam - Not a rookie but could play a pivotal role with injuries. Looks like he's in great shape.
LG: Laken Tomlinson - Seemed to get better and better as the year progressed. With others pushing for his job, has he slimmed down, worked on his explosion, become fully efficient in the offense, etc.?
ROT: Darrell Williams Jr. - Strong pre season but can he stick now?
LDE: Arik Armstead - Not a draft pick but might as well be one. $9M to finally prove his worth at a position best suited for him in Big End.
NT: D.J. Jones - Could displace Mitchell.
RDT: Sheldon Day - Another late addition but has some terrific talent and Saleh can finally give Buckner less snaps.
LEO: Solomon Thomas - This one is obvious.
WILL: Elijah Lee - Another late addition that the team was originally high on. Needed to hit the weight room for a year.
RCB: Ahkello Witherspoon - So much hinges on his second year.
SS: Chancellor James - Absolutely blew up a Niner in pre season who, a year later, was still suffering from post-concussion issues, and recently just released.

1. Jimmy Garopollo, QB
I'm curious to which girl will he choose. The sophisticated and elegant Alexandra King, or the girl next door blonde, that's also really down to earth and one of the guys bartender. Maybe even Emma Watson might make an appearance, who knows but the suspense is killing me.

2. Witherspoon, CB
Will he reach his potential and supplant Sherman as the #1 CB in go-cart racing? It's a tall order, but the future doctor has the athletic ability and drive to be great. His progress is something I'll be closely watching.

3. Kittle, TE
How far can he go on FortNite? Will the dominance continue? Or will Trent Taylor be the lead dog? The competition is fierce, hopefully, their friendship can last.

4. Colbert, FS/SS
Will he ever get over the comparison to Goldson? Or will he be resentful toward the fanbase? If he doesn't produce with his new number of 27 the public outcry to go back to Goldson lite will be egregious, to say the least.

5. Sol. Thomas, DE
Can he improve from year 1 to year 2? Hopefully, he's worked on his technique and our new pass rush coach helps him reach new heights.

Bourne and Beathard. Two guys I think will look like starters in their 2nd year.

Originally posted by dj43:

Nice piece, OTC.

I too am particularly intrigued with Beathard. I see him following the same pattern as Garappolo in New England when he was sitting behind Brady and learning the fine points of the game. In this very competitive league, if you QB1 goes down, and you don't have a competent QB2, you can kiss off your season. Beathard showed last season that he had enough of the basics to win if the rest of the pieces began to fall into place. He is at least a future major trade piece a la Jimmy G.

A guy you didn't mention but one I am going to be watching is Arik Armstead. I want to see him have a good run while healthy and see what he can do. When healthy, he has flashed at times but with different systems and injuries, he has never really had a serious go at it.

If I was listing my "most excited to see in the *regular* season" thread, AA would definitely be towards the top of that list. I'm a big defender of AA and think he catches way too much hate that he doesn't deserve, in my opinion. I really hope he stays healthy this year and shuts a lot of people up.

Originally posted by thl408:
Just from last year's draft class?
1. Thomas - He needs to flash more often as a pass rusher to validate his potential as a game changing type of player. Solid is good, but a top 3 pick needs to be more than solid.

2. Colbert - Can he really be the fixture at FS for this defense? Many flashes last season and I'm hoping it wasn't a flash in the pan. What a gem it would be to find the starting FS - a critical component of this scheme - in the 7th round.

3. Witherspoon - Was showing a good transition into being a Cover3 CB after playing very little zone defense in college. I don't see a reason why he can't be considered as a potential "#1 CB". He has the athletic ability and he has the smarts. Now he gets to learn from one of the best.

4. Kittle - Can he emerge as a threat in the red zone, and can he improve on his run blocking to the point that he is the guy for this offense? Kyle has had possession receiver type TEs (Owen Daniels), and a big play type (Jordan Cameron). Which type is Kittle?

5. Foster - Will he shrug off the off field issues to continue being a a dominant LB?

This would be my list in slightly different order but not for pre-season. I'd actually hope those guys don't get a ton of time in preseason for obvious reasons.

Preseason OP's list is pretty good.

I'd also love to see what we have in Elijah Lee and Greg Mabin.

Nice thread.

In addition to yours I'd go

Cole Hikutini, Tight Ends typically struggle in year 1, has some great receiving skills would like to see him step up as a blocker and overtakes Celek.

Chanceller James, had a great camp, was well ahead of Colbert and needs a really good showing to stick on the roster.

All I am concerned about is the pass rush. That is the one area the front office "ignored" in the draft because they couldn't find anyone better than the following:

Marsh
Attaochu
Armstead
Harold
Taumoepenu
S. Thomas

This group better come out like a house on fire. If not, guess the Niners will be scouring the waiver wire before the season starts to shore up this critical area of need.

Originally posted by qnnhan7:

Bourne and Beathard. Two guys I think will look like starters in their 2nd year.

Originally posted by thl408:

If we are allowed to name players outside of last year's draft class, then I'll go with:
1. Thomas - please do something really good on the pass rush.
2. Attachou - please do something really good on the pass rush.
3. Colbert - keep making plays
4. Jet - do something to justify the high salary
5. Richberg - how much can a legit Center improve this offense?

Oh yes, I mentioned in general there are some players from last year's draft class I did want to see, but the list can be any non-rookie on the roster.

A couple people mentioned Kendrick Bourne and he's a guy that's really intriguing that I sometimes forget about, especially with all the new blood at WR. It'll be interesting to see how much he improves from year one to year two. He's a guy that brings a little more size and is another candidate for the future as an outside WR for whenever Garcon goes. From the Arizona game going forward, he had a catch in all but one of the games for the rest of the season (@CHI the one outlier).

You never know who's going to take that next step. As Shanahan has said before, "you're either getting better or you're getting worse." He's going to have to be better to keep some talented, hungry rookies from surpassing him on the depth chart, but his edge in experience now certainly helps.

Originally posted by NCommand:

Great idea for a thread. I agree with all of these.

RB: Raheem Mostert - Gotta see how he's recovered. Was a gunner demon with 4.3 speed who often times would be standing there waiting for the Pinion punt to come down. With his speed and Moore's 4.2 speed, these two could be the best duo-gunners in the NFL.
TE: George Kittle & Cole Hikutini - Fans forget how much "Brittle" was hurt last year. At the end of the year he finally got healthy and with each game got more and more explosion back. "DirtyTini" seems like he has some upside as well and will compete with Dwelley.
YWR: Trent Tylor - He's been working out hard and I'm sure he's trying to add to his YAC and long speed.
ZWR: Kendrick Bourne - Kyle personally challenged him and he could be hard to keep off the field
LOT: Garry Gilliam - Not a rookie but could play a pivotal role with injuries. Looks like he's in great shape.
LG: Laken Tomlinson - Seemed to get better and better as the year progressed. With others pushing for his job, has he slimmed down, worked on his explosion, become fully efficient in the offense, etc.?
ROT: Darrell Williams Jr. - Strong pre season but can he stick now?
LDE: Arik Armstead - Not a draft pick but might as well be one. $9M to finally prove his worth at a position best suited for him in Big End.
NT: D.J. Jones - Could displace Mitchell.
RDT: Sheldon Day - Another late addition but has some terrific talent and Saleh can finally give Buckner less snaps.
LEO: Solomon Thomas - This one is obvious.
WILL: Elijah Lee - Another late addition that the team was originally high on. Needed to hit the weight room for a year.
RCB: Ahkello Witherspoon - So much hinges on his second year.
SS: Chancellor James - Absolutely blew up a Niner in pre season who, a year later, was still suffering from post-concussion issues, and recently just released.

Who needs top 5 when you could look at every position? lol. If I expanded it to one non-rookie guy at each position group, I'd go with the following:

QB - Beathard
RB - Williams
TE - Hikutini
WR - Bourne
OT - Darrell Williams
OG - Garnett
C - Magnuson
DL - Armstead
MLB - Toomer
OLB - Taumoepenu
CB - Sherman
S - Chanceller James

Originally posted by OnTheClock:

Who needs top 5 when you could look at every position? lol. If I expanded it to one non-rookie guy at each position group, I'd go with the following:

QB - Beathard
RB - Williams
TE - Hikutini
WR - Bourne
OT - Darrell Williams
OG - Garnett
C - Magnuson
DL - Armstead
MLB - Toomer
OLB - Taumoepenu
CB - Sherman
S - Chanceller James

LOL...sorry, went a little crazy there.

For PRE-SEASON & NON-ROOKIES, I'd go with:

DL - Armstead
MLB - Toomer & M.Smith
OLB - Taumoepenu
CB - Sherman