San Francisco 49ers: 2016 Starters whose futures depend on 2017
After an offseason of roster overhaul, there are a number of San Francisco 49ers who were starters in 2016, but whose futures depend on 2017.
The San Francisco 49ers roster has a significantly different look to it following an offseason overhaul, which saw the 49ers bring in a host of players in free agency and the draft. There will be new starters at an array of positions on both sides of the ball in the 2017 season.
As this will not be a quick rebuild, there figures to be more change to the depth chart in 2018 and there are a number of players who could find themselves either being removed as starters or falling off the roster entirely depending on how their 2017 season goes.
Here we look at five players whose 49ers futures depend on their performances in the 2017 season.
Carlos Hyde
Only injuries prevented Carlos Hyde from reaching the 1,000-yard mark last season and, while that number does not mean what it used to, he has produced plenty to suggest the 49ers were right to spend a second-round pick on him back in 2014.
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Yet there has been plenty of talk that this could be Hyde’s last year with the 49ers, with Kyle Shanahan’s apparent fondness for rookie Joe Williams — as evidenced in Peter King’s MMQB article from inside the San Francisco draft room — helping fuel that speculation.
Heading into his contract year, Hyde will need to showcase significantly improved durability having failed to finish a full season so far in his career. When he has been able to stay on the field, Hyde has demonstrated power, the ability to hit the hole with significant burst and the agility to make people miss consistently.
That combination of tools has enabled Hyde to put up games like his 193-yard performance against the Jets last campaign. But in order for Hyde’s 49ers career to extend beyond 2017, he will likely need more of those showings on a more regular basis in the coming season.