The 49ers are heading into roster-cut week with a little extra urgency, and not just because every NFL team has to get from 90 players down to 53 by Sunday, August 30 at 3:00 PM PST. San Francisco also has a plane to catch, with a Week 1 trip to Melbourne, Australia, to face the Los Angeles Rams. That means the staff has to sort out who is staying, who is going, and who needs a travel plan.
The timing matters, too, because the 49ers are currently 3.5-point underdogs against the Rams at FanDuel Sportsbook. Since that game is being played in Australia rather than San Francisco or Los Angeles, the roster picture is clearly part of how those numbers were set.
Once the cuts come, players will either be released outright or waived, depending on how long they’ve been in the league. The 49ers also have a couple of roster mechanisms to navigate.
If a player goes on IR, two players can be designated to return and come back after missing at least four games, but those tags have to be assigned now. They can’t be added later.
Anyone else placed on IR is done for the year, including Ricky Pearsall. The PUP list works differently: it applies to players placed there before the season begins, and once they practice or appear in even one preseason game, they come off it.
Players on PUP still have to miss at least four games.
For San Francisco, the waiver wire is where the real waiting game begins. Players with at least four years of experience are released and become unrestricted free agents. Everyone under that threshold goes on waivers, which means other teams get a shot at them before they can hit free agency.
The players associated with the 49ers’ 90-man roster this year who are subject to waivers are:
QB Kurtis Rourke
QB Adrian Martinez
RB Kaelon Black
RB Jordan James
RB Sincere McCormick
WR De’Zhaun Stribling
WR Jacob Cowing
WR Jordan Watkins
WR Wesley Grimes
WR Will Pauling
TE Brayden Willis
TE Hayden Rucci
TE Khalil Dinkins
OG Dominick Puni
OG Connor Colby
OL Carver Willis
OL Drake Nugent
OL Enrique Cruz Jr.
OL Isaac Alarcon
DL Romello Height
DL Alfred Collins
DL Gracen Halton
DL CJ West
DL Sebastian Valdez
DL James Thompson Jr.
DL Bryson Eason
DL Evan Anderson
LB Jaden Dugger
LB Tatum Bethune
LB Nick Martin
LB Larry Worth III
CB Renardo Green
CB Upton Stout
CB Ephesians Prysock
CB Jakob Robinson
S Malik Mustapha
S Patrick McMorris
S Marques Sigle
S Jalen Stroman
Waiver priority is set by this year’s draft order, and the 49ers sit 27th because their pick was 27 before it was traded to the Miami Dolphins. That means 26 teams get the first crack at any player San Francisco wants. If another team claims someone, it has to clear a roster spot to stay at 53, and the 49ers would have to replace that player with another move.
It also doesn’t work like fantasy football. Teams can make more than one claim, and clubs ahead of San Francisco can scoop up multiple players if they have the room. That gives teams like the Las Vegas Raiders and New York Jets more room to be aggressive, while the Seattle Seahawks sit last because they won the Super Bowl.
The full waiver order runs through the Raiders, Jets, Cardinals, Titans, Giants, Browns, Commanders, Saints, Chiefs, Bengals, Dolphins, Cowboys, Falcons, Ravens, Buccaneers, Colts, Lions, Vikings, Panthers, Packers, Steelers, Chargers, Eagles, Jaguars, Bears, Bills, 49ers, Texans, Rams, Broncos, Patriots and Seahawks.
The bottom line is simple: the 49ers will have to wait on the players they like, and plenty of other teams are waiting too. The 53-man roster on Monday won’t be the same one fans see on Tuesday or Wednesday.
In Other News...
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For San Francisco, the safest approach is to assume Nacua will be out there until proven otherwise, even if the picture remains unsettled. The Rams added Tutu Atwell to help deepen the receiver room after his stint with the Dolphins, but the real question for the 49ers is whether they get the full version of a familiar NFC West threat or an opener tilted by circumstance. [Read more 🡒]
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49ers Roster Battle Just Put One Big Cut Decision Under Pressure
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What stood out most, though, was how the game fed into a bigger roster conversation still hanging over the final cutdown period. San Franciscos coaching staff and front office are weighing how to handle the quarterback room, and the choice of whether to carry three quarterbacks has only become more pointed after a night when the backup and developmental spots were on display as much as the scoreless stretches. [Read more 🡒]