The 49ers are heading into training camp with a roster that feels caught between two timelines. The top end still looks like a team that expects to matter, but the next wave of core players is harder to identify. That makes this camp especially important for a handful of guys who need to show they belong in the long-term picture.
For some, the challenge is staying on the field. For others, it’s forcing their way into a crowded depth chart. And for a few, this may be the last real chance to prove they’re more than just names on the roster.
Ricky Pearsall is one of the clearest examples. There’s enough talent there to argue he’s already shown more than the average player in this spot, but health has been the issue that keeps hanging over him.
If he can’t avoid a long-term injury absence this season, his standing as a future top option on the 49ers’ receiver depth chart gets shaky fast. Training camp will be the first test, especially after injury problems in his first two years, but the bigger question is whether he can hold up through a regular season where producing over 15-plus games would mean a lot more than the 10 he’s averaged so far.
Jordan James is in a different kind of bind. He barely got a real shot as a rookie, and for a while it looked like he might slide comfortably into the RB2 role.
That changed when the 49ers added third-round pick Kaelon Black. Now James has to fend off Black just to stay in the mix, and he could even lose out on a game-day spot if a better special teams player passes him.
In San Francisco, that kind of slide can be hard to reverse.
On the defensive line, Alfred Collins is at a point where the next step has to be real and visible. Last season was about development, and he did improve as the year went on.
But there wasn’t a true breakout moment for the 2025 second-round pick. This year, the 49ers need him to either lock down a starting job on the interior or become someone they’re already thinking about replacing next offseason.
Flashes help, but they’re not enough. San Francisco needs consistency from a defensive tackle if he’s going to be part of the future.
Malik Mustapha looks safer on the surface, since one of the starting safety spots appears to be his. Even so, his third year may decide how far he goes with the 49ers.
He’s shown the kind of downhill thump that jumps off the screen, and there’s a path to him becoming a real force on a revamped defense. But he still has work to do in coverage and with missed tackles.
A stronger front seven should help him, but if the growth doesn’t come, the 49ers could be looking for a new starter at his spot as soon as next season.
Ji’Ayir Brown may already be past the point where a true long-term breakthrough is coming. The 49ers wanted a bigger jump from him last season, and what they got was another so-so year.
At 26 and entering his fourth season, a second contract in San Francisco looks unlikely. Still, his immediate future is unsettled.
If he doesn’t win the starting free safety job in camp, his time on the roster could be coming to an end.
Jacob Cowing faces the steepest climb of the group. Year 3 arrives with a crowded receiver room behind the top names, and the 49ers added three players there this offseason after drafting Jordan Watkins in 2025.
That leaves Cowing fighting for relevance. His best path is to become useful in the kick and punt return game, but that only works if he stays healthy through the preseason.
If he can’t, the 2024 fourth-round pick could be looking for a new team by cutdown day on August 30.
In Other News...
George Kittle Just Shared A Wild Kyle Shanahan Fight Story
George Kittle has a way of turning even a casual offseason memory into a full-on locker room story, and his latest one goes back to a 49ers trip to Cabo years ago. The tight end was talking about a golf outing that included both families and a few drinks, when a playful exchange with Kyle Shanahan escalated into a moment that sounded more like a backyard dare than a coach-player relationship.
For San Francisco, stories like that are part of the backdrop to a season that always seems to carry a little extra personality under Shanahan and Kittle. The same article also circles back to the roster picture, including Dre Greenlaws emotional return to the facility and the buzz around Jacob Cowing as a potential camp standout, but the Kittle anecdote is the kind of thing that reminds you how loose and human this group can be before the real football starts. [Read more 🡒]
49ers Camp Absences Suddenly Put Early Week 1 Focus On Four Names
The 49ers first week of training camp already has a different feel because of the names sitting out and the roster shuffling around them. General manager John Lynch said the team waived undrafted rookie tight end Khalil Dinkins with a non-football injury designation and brought in Tanner McLachlan, a 2024 sixth-round pick most recently with the Bengals, while defensive tackle Evan Anderson is expected to be released once a corresponding move is made.
More pressing for San Francisco is the group starting camp on the active/PUP list, with George Kittle, Isaac Guerendo, Mykel Williams and Alfred Collins all set to begin on the sideline. Lynch said Kittles rehab is coming along tremendously and that he is doing everything possible to be ready for Week 1, while Williams is also making every effort to be available for the opener even if that remains uncertain. [Read more 🡒]
5 Young 49ers Could Force Their Way Into Camp Battles
Training camp has a way of turning depth-chart guesses into real competition, and the 49ers have a handful of young players who could make that happen before the pads even come on. Jordan James, Jacob Cowing, Romello Height, Kurtis Rourke and Ephesians Prysock all arrive with different paths, but the same basic challenge: show enough early to make the staff keep them in the conversation for roles that are still very much up for grabs.
For some, the opening is obvious. Cowing can help himself on special teams even before he proves more as a receiver, while Height is the kind of edge presence the 49ers have been searching for in the right situation. Rourke is trying to stand out in a quarterback room that already has established names, and Prysock has a chance to make life interesting in the secondary. James, meanwhile, is in the middle of a backfield race that could be decided by who looks most ready when camp starts sorting out the pecking order. [Read more 🡒]