San Francisco 49ers: 5 biggest holes on the team’s roster
![Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape/cover/sport/e1a2415f753bb80f1695f26a449f9a1d3929ac30a7689d0ca4935e2741702334.jpg)
The San Francisco 49ers enter the 2019 season with the best roster during Kyle Shanahan’s tenure. However, that doesn’t mean there still aren’t spots with uncertainty.
Any team that is picking in the top 10 of the draft for four straight years knows, its roster has some problems. When San Francisco 49ers CEO Jed York hired Kyle Shanahan as his head coach, he knew there would be tough times before they got better.
After the acquisition of quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo in the middle of Shanahan’s first season sparked a five-game winning streak to close the season, expectations grew quickly. Perhaps too fast. The 49ers entered last season as an industry pick to return to their old glory. That didn’t happen.
Garoppolo tore his ACL in the team’s third game. Garoppolo wasn’t the only major injury though. A number of players up and down the roster suffered significant injuries that forced the rest of the roster to limp their way through the rest of the schedule.
The 49ers finished the season with a 4-12 record. Given the circumstances, the record wasn’t all that surprising, but patience has never been football fan’s greatest virtue. Even Shanahan has admitted that no matter how he feels about the 49ers culture and team, they need to win games.
Over Shanahan’s time, the roster has been markedly improved at almost every position. Granted, the team he inherited was so barren of talent that was the easy task. There remain a number of clear holes.
If the team is going to be successful this season, they will need to get strong play from some of these spots.