All NFL 53-man rosters must be determined by 6:00 pm EST on Sunday. All general managers and head coaches will face difficult decisions.

General manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan are in the toughest position of all.


That is due to two factors. While all teams play their first games at roughly the same time, the 49ers play theirs the second earliest, on September 10, three days before the main slate. Why is that any more difficult than the Patriots and Seahawks, who play on September 9?

Because the 49ers play in Australia and will be leaving for Down Under on September 2. That is only two days after final cutdowns, and no practices are allowed for three days after the final preseason game.. John Lynch will only have a few days to decide whether to sign any players released by other teams. And, to that end, he and Shanahan will have to project which currently-injured players should be kept and who should receive an injury designation.

There are only two designations the team can use to "save" a player from the 53-man roster. One is the PUP list, but to be eligible, a player must have missed the entirety of training camp. That is why Mykell Williams will be placed on it.

The IR-designated to return list can be used on any player injured during training camp, but the team is allowed only two.

In both instances, the player must sit out a minimum of the first four games of the season.


Here is the conundrum at certain positions.

Offensive line


Heading into training camp, Shanahan and Lynch said the left guard position was an open competition.

The main contenders were Robert Jones, Connor Colby, and Carver Willis. Jones is currently out with an injury, and a time frame has not been given. The Niners tried Austen Pleasants at left guard, though he has mostly played tackle. Early on in that experiment, Pleasants got hurt. While it is supposedly not a serious injury, the timeline adds pressure to the decision.

At center, the initial depth chart had Brett Toth backing up starter Jake Brendel, with Drake Nugent the third stringer. Toth is currently out with a concussion.

On the outside of the offensive line, Vederian Lowe was the likely swing tackle, but he has missed camp with a high ankle sprain. Pleasants and Enrique Cruz are the other backups, but the more experienced Pleasants is hurt.


Are any of those injured linemen—two guards, two tackles, and a center—close enough to returning that they should be kept outright? Are they so far away they should be on the IR list? All have played in at least one practice. (I am not sure if Lowe's partial first practice makes him ineligible for the PUP list.)

How big is the risk of losing a player to another team if he is waived? There are some here who would be attractive backups to other organizations.

Linebacker


The third linebacker position became unsettled when Dee Winters was traded to the Cowboys in the offseason.

Entering training camp, the main contenders were Luke Gifford, who played the position last year and was a Pro Bowler for special teams; Nick Martin, drafted in 2025 but injured much of last year; Garret Wallow, who played well in relief last year; and rookie 5th-round pick Jaden Dugger, who is the most talented of the four.

Gifford has been out for weeks. Martin went down with an injury two games ago. Wallow was out with an injury Thursday night. Dugger was one of the frontrunners to begin with, and he was going to make the team, but probably only one of the others will have a spot. Wallow and Martin have shown promise. Gifford is great on special teams. Will this come down to who will return soonest? If there is a tie in that regard, which one is most likely to clear waivers? (There is no doubt that Shanahan and Lynch want both Martin and Wallow on at least the practice squad.)


So we have four candidates and three injuries.

If a larger pool of IR players were allowed, the situation would be easier, though still difficult.

But the 49ers have to decide only a few days before leaving for Australia who is even able to practice (some of these players are currently in the concussion protocol), let alone play in a game.

And while other GMs and head coaches have the luxury of scanning the waiver wire and having any pickups practice for over a week before the season begins, the Niners will already be acclimating to the time change over 7,000 miles away. Which player can they sign and bring that distance and get up to speed before game day?

I do not envy the kind of situation Lynch and Shanahan are in. No other coach or GM in the league does, either.

Written By:

Jack Stewart


Jack Stewart was educated at Alabama and Emory and was a Brittain Fellow at Georgia Tech. His poetry has been published widely in the US and several other countries. His book No Reason was published in the Poeima Poetry Series in 2020.
All articles by Jack Stewart


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