San Francisco 49ers: Josh Garnett Has the Most to Prove In Preseason Finale
The San Francisco 49ers get ready to close out the 2018 preseason at home against the Los Angeles Chargers tonight at Levis Stadium.
The final preseason game is an opportunity for several players to make their final impressions on all the coaches around the leagues and solidify a roster spot. Like most teams in the league, the San Francisco 49ers won’t be playing many, if any, of their starters during the final dress rehearsal.
That means players on the roster bubble will get their time to show why they belong in the league. This is exactly the case for right-guard Joshua Garnett.
The 49ers traded up to draft Garnett at the end of the first round in the 2016 draft. Then general manager, Trent Baalke traded away three picks (No. 37, 105, and 178) to move back into the first round (28th pick) and draft the right-guard out of Stanford.
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Since being drafted in 2016, it’s safe to say that Garnett has failed to live up to first-round expectations. Garnett had a poor rookie season in pass protection and graded out as the 28th worst first-round pick out of his first-round draft class per PFF.
Garnett also missed all of last season right knee injury, which didn’t leave a great impression on the new coaching staff. He didn’t attempt to make a comeback late last season because the coaching staff felt he needed to reshape his body in order to fit with the current offensive scheme.
Garnett took all of last year and this offseason to lose over 20 pounds and five percent body fat. These reports made fans and the coaching staff believe that Garnett was dedicated to making the team and he was a viable candidate to compete for the starting job at right guard.
The encouraging reports were quickly silenced when Garnett banged knees with a teammate during one of the first practices of training camp causing him to miss a few weeks of camp.
Kyle Shanahan even had a few irritable words about Garnett’s inability to get on the practice field saying that he was surprised that Garnett didn’t compete in practice and that it’s difficult to evaluate players when they are not on the field (per 49ers Webzone).
Well, Garnett finally got in-game action last week against the Colts and showed some of the promising run-blocking attributes that got him drafted in the first round.
Needless to say, a one-week sample size in preseason is way too vague to evaluate a player’s contribution to a team, let alone solidify him a starting role in the offense.
During Tuesday’s final press conference before the preseason finale, Shanahan said that the starting right-guard job is Mike Person‘s to lose. He references Person’s consistency throughout camp but doesn’t close the door on Garnett competing for the job as the season goes.
Garnett has gone from former first-round pick to a player on the roster bubble. The fact that he is a first-round pick means the 49ers will not cut him. But instead, if they feel they have better depth options that are more versatile and are a better fit in their scheme, they could seek to find a trade for Garnett.
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He still has two years left on his rookie contract and could be a fit with another team that doesn’t require as much athleticism as Kyle Shanahan’s offense does. But at least for tonight, Garnett is a 49er, and if he wants to stay in San Francisco he’s going to need to have another good performance against the Chargers.