Kurtenbach: Two wide receivers and no punter — the 49ers’ work-in-progress roster shows its flaws

In March ers general manager John Lynch was defiant Sure his front office had followed ownership s mandate to cut costs jettisoning veteran aka expensive depth and replacing it with no one in particular cheap during free agency but as Lynch communicated this news organization We ve got this thing called the draft That s how the Niners would backfill their roster kids Five months later with the regular season just days away that plan if you could even call it that looks even more foolish than it did then The Niners trimmed their roster down to the NFL-mandated players on Tuesday but amid a slew of cuts and procedural moves it s clear that San Francisco is still in the process of building their organization So much for those kids Related Articles Kurtenbach Jake Moody s latest misses should seal his ers fate ers Studs and Duds Niners end preseason with more questions than answers The ers are panic-buying to cover their roster-building mistakes Kurtenbach The ers aren t ready and it s hard to see that changing The ers have a big matter at wide receiver Here are three reasonable solutions Was there bad luck involved in this debacle Absolutely The Niners were ravaged by injuries in the preseason with both young players and the off-the-street free agents brought in to replace them going down so frequently I m surprised the Niners haven t hired afterlife experts to investigate if the facility is cursed Then again the players that are the majority injured in the NFL are off-the-street free agents injury concerns are likely why they were available and young players who are adapting to NFL size and speed and often pay for that learning In all it left the ers with a roster on Tuesday that included only two healthy wide receivers one was acquired in a exchange last week offensive linemen defensive linemen because when not one of your depth guys proves they re NFL worthy you just have to keep them all and no punter This squad went from confident and frankly a bit cocky to cutting players they need for Week so they can try to add players other teams cut on Tuesday Then again those soon-to-be-signed players will also be needed in Week Yep that s the Niners new depth plan cut-day cast-offs All of this might seem overdramatic I ve certainly heard your complaints about my general pessimism about the Niners roster And it s pivotal to remember that the Niners do indeed have truly great players Brock Purdy Trent Williams George Kittle Fred Warner Christian McCaffrey and a sparse other Pro-Bowl caliber talents on the roster But this isn t fantasy football In the NFL a crew is only as good as its depth And if any organization should know that it s the constantly injured ers And after a that was torpedoed because of a lack of worthwhile backups the Niners did nothing appreciable to improve in that area for the season Now and beyond is a different story Faced with that fact they went scrambling before the roster deadline to swing trades for players who can authentically play On Tuesday they were cute with cuts and keeps This unit is still a mile wide and an inch deep The time to fix that was in March during NFL free agency It s certainly not something that can be rectified in the final days of August The Niners bizarre cut-down day revealed that this club is in purgatory They re too talented at the top end to be terrible but not good enough everywhere else to be great It results in a squad that can cut their punter for procedural reasons specifically so they can punt on other roster decisions The Niners kept receiver Jauan Jennings on the developing -man roster on Tuesday despite his calf injury that may or may not be directly tied to his desire to sign a new contract with the association I guess stress truly does manifest in the body San Francisco reportedly considered placing Jennings on injured reserve with a designation to return as a means to call his bluff and end this remarkable standoff But the Niners front office decided to table that possibility so they cut someone to keep Jennings on the functioning roster even though there s no populace indication he ll be operational be that because of injury or personal choice anytime soon Related Articles Instant analysis of ers -man roster and those left off it like The Hulk ers need Renardo Green and their draft class to take big leap in ers Brian Robinson Jr joins Christian McCaffrey to make best duo in league ers down to two quarterbacks Purdy and Jones while cutting ties with two Trey Lance part of Kyle Shanahan s QB carousel on verge of winning Chargers backup job The Niners also punted a decision on second-year receiver Jacob Cowing who has battled hamstring injuries all camp and isn t expected to play for weeks if not months On cut-down day the NFL allows teams to place two players on injured reserve with a designation to return San Francisco only used one spot Can Cowing return Do the Niners even want Cowing to return Faced with a deadline Lynch and company couldn t make the call so they cut a veteran who they can keep in town for a day or two punter Thomas Morstead Gage or receiver Robbie Chosen take your choice so they can circle back later this week Or maybe next week Or maybe in a month Going through hoops for a wide receiver with four NFL catches and seemingly as multiple days of training camp practice doesn t sound like something a good group does But that s where the Niners are as preparation for the season starts in earnest The San Francisco roster distributed on Tuesday isn t final and that s a good thing San Francisco will certainly be adding more players both ones already employed and new to the squad in the coming days They have no other choice But not one of them will change this squad s trajectory though Players who can do that aren t available in late August But after crapping out on their original plan they re the only option the Niners have left