The 49ers made their first waive of cuts on Friday as they begin to whittle their 90-man roster down to 53 by Saturday afternoon. Running back Tim Hightower and a number of other veterans were the most notable names in the first round of 15 players to have not made the squad. The 49ers now have 71 players on their roster. The team also waived cornerbacks Price Charles Iworah and Will Redmond. If both clear waivers they are expected to rejoin the team on the Injured Reserve list.
Via a 49ers news release:
The releasing of RBs Hightower and Kapari Bibbs would seem to indicate that both rookies Joe Williams and Matt Breida are likely to make the team as backups behind Carlos Hyde.
After Matt Barkley didn’t play a single snap in Thursday’s preseason finale vs. the Chargers, the writing was on the wall that he had lost the second-string QB job behind Brian Hoyer to rookie C.J. Beathard. Beathard had another impressive performance on Thursday, scoring on a Steve Young-esque 62-yard run in the second quarter. Barkley did not see much action in the preseason and was relatively undistinguished when he did, going 13-of-21 for 197 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions.
Linebacker Shayne Skov was another veteran casualty. Skov signed by the 49ers after going undrafted out of Stanford in 2014, and has been signed and cut by the team five separate times.