Photo Credit: Chris Mezzavilla
After a hilariously long wait, the 49ers provided their final roster cuts. For a full list of the transactions which took them to the 53-man roster, click here. Here’s a visual look at the cuts that got the 49ers to this point:
Graphic by Jake Hutchinson, Dieter Kurtenbach
There weren’t too many major surprises, but here is a look at some of the more notable moves:
Cutting Nate Sudfeld
This was expected, but it’s the first time the 49ers have opted to retain just two quarterbacks in the Kyle Shanahan era. They couldn’t afford to waste a spot on a third quarterback this year. Sudfeld may well be back, and the 49ers certainly want that, if he’s amenable to joining the practice squad. He was given a decent guarantee before he signed, so both parties should still be on good terms.
Cutting Colton McKivitz, keeping Tom Compton
This is the only real head-scratching move. It’s hard to see how it makes sense to subject a recent, young draft pick to waivers when he came on well in the second half of training camp, but clearly the 49ers feel like Compton is just the better player. If it’s about flexibility at tackle, that doesn’t make much sense; Compton looked awful there. But hey, at the end of the day, you’re talking about the eighth lineman spot, and that’s not often a stud. Still, you’d think they’d opt for the 25-year-old versus the 32-year-old whose best days are behind him, especially when veteran practice squad spots are open. Maybe Compton made it clear he wasn’t amenable to the practice squad at this point in his career. As for the other interior options, Jake Brendel had a brutal start to camp before improving down the stretch, and Dakoda Shepley struggled mightily, particularly in pass sets and one-on-ones. They weren’t real contenders for roster spots.
Cutting Dontae Johnson, retaining Davontae Harris
This was the second surprise, given that, well, we literally haven’t seen Davontae Harris play. He’s been injured pretty much from the moment he joined the team, and Dontae Johnson is coming off arguably the best season of his career. It’s not like Johnson looked like a lockdown corner, but he’s a more known commodity compared to Harris, though Harris has 30 combined games with the Ravens and Broncos. But that’s probably part of the calculation; Harris is still subject to waivers, while Johnson isn’t, and the 49ers have done the cut-and-re-sign dance with Johnson more times than is reasonable to count.
Cutting Wayne Gallman, retaining JaMycal Hasty
Hasty sure as hell deserved to make the team. Few guys run harder than him, and there’s a little Jeff Wilson Jr. to his game in the way he runs without fear. The concerns are about his size and the fact that Gallman is a better pass protector, especially in blitzes, and an easier receiving target, but he also had a few drops. Gallman was also a veteran not subject to waivers, while Hasty was, and may well have been scooped up.
Cutting Ha Ha Clinton-Dix over Tavon Wilson
This was as much of a 50-50 as Gallman and Hasty, and probably seems more surprising as a result of recency bias. Wilson was available, reliable, and solid in the first couple weeks of camp before he started finding himself on the sidelines, when Clinton-Dix came in. Clinton-Dix also found the ball quite a lot, with at least two interceptions in camp and two in the preseason. But the 49ers probably want their fourth safety to be someone who’s more sound and comfortable in the scheme, hence Wilson.
Trading Jonas Griffith for an improved draft pick this year, draft pick next year
Moving Griffith, who had a stellar camp, is a solid trade. He’s a former undrafted free agent who yielded a seventh-round pick next year and amended the 49ers’ seventh this year, turning it into the Broncos’ sixth-round pick this year. It’s not unreasonable, though, given how impressive Griffith, 24, was in camp. It allowed the 49ers to get value for a player they would probably have liked to keep while clearing a roster spot at linebacker — to keep five players — without cutting anyone.
Cutting MyCole Pruitt
This allowed the 49ers to keep 11 defensive linemen, though you could argue maybe Davontae Harris would have been a better cut. Perhaps they thought that they needed another corner for special teams purposes. Still, Pruitt was guaranteed $500,000 of his base salary according to OverTheCap, is an above average run blocker, and clearly the team’s second-best in-line blocker behind George Kittle. Given how often they’re likely to run the ball this year, it feels like they could have used Pruitt, and if they bring him back on the practice squad, he’ll effectively cost $1.5 million instead of $990,000 for the year (though after the year is over they’ll receive a credit on the cap for next season).
Cutting Travis Benjamin, Nsimba Webster, keeping Jalen Hurd, Jauan Jennings
This is the best move the 49ers made. Swing on talent, always. Hurd and Jennings both have talent. Benjamin and Webster don’t really have much of that, at least as receivers. Benjamin had an unbelievable amount of drops early in camp before improving late, and then sustained a concussion. Webster doesn’t seem to have much of a grasp of the receiver position, let alone of the ball. The 49ers can figure out their return position over the next two weeks, and worst case, can put one of Hurd and Jennings on injured reserve.
Upcoming moves?
Keeping Hurd and Jennings gives the 49ers an option to place one of them on injured reserve if needed to create another roster spot. One immediate way to open up a roster spot is by putting Maurice Hurst on injured reserve. That could promptly be used to bring back MyCole Pruitt, or another tight end, or add depth somewhere else, like, say linebacker, or to sign Nate Sudfeld to the roster. Aaron Banks could also be placed on injured reserve if need be, but the 49ers probably want to get him as many reps as possible over the next two weeks.