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

In March, 49ers 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 told 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 53 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 team.

So much for those kids.

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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 most 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 education).

In all, it left the 49ers with a roster on Tuesday that included only two healthy wide receivers (one was acquired in a trade last week), 10 offensive linemen, 11 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 team went from confident and, frankly, a bit cocky to cutting players they need for Week 1 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 1.

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 important to remember that the Niners do, indeed, have truly great players — Brock Purdy, Trent Williams, George Kittle, Fred Warner, Christian McCaffrey — and a few other Pro-Bowl caliber talents on the roster.

But this isn’t fantasy football. In the NFL, a team is only as good as its depth. And if any team should know that, it’s the constantly injured 49ers.

And after a 2024 that was torpedoed because of a lack of worthwhile backups, the Niners did nothing appreciable to improve in that area for the 2025 season.

(Now, 2026 and beyond is a different story.)

Faced with that fact, they went scrambling before the roster deadline to swing trades for players who can actually play. On Tuesday, they were cute with cuts and keeps.

This team 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 showed that this team 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 team 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 active 53-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 team. (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 unusual standoff.

But the Niners’ front office decided to table that possibility, so they cut someone to keep Jennings on the active roster, even though there’s no public indication he’ll be active (be that because of injury or personal choice) anytime soon.

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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 many days of training camp practice) doesn’t sound like something a good team does.

But that’s where the Niners are as preparation for the season starts, in earnest.

The San Francisco roster released 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 team’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.