Brandon Aiyuk signing impact on the 49ers' 53-man roster: Full breakdown

so here's a 49ers 53 man roster analysis just a couple days after the 49ers finalized their 53 man roster and included Brandon auk on it but he was an inefficient part of that roster because he was holding in now the hold in is over because Brandon auk has signed for four years 120 million with 76 million in total guarantees now we need to know the fully guaranteed money before we can actually judge who on this deal it does appear on the surface to be a win-win based on some of the clues that we've gotten but the biggest win comes from the 49ers 53 man roster that's the salary cap impact for San Francisco I'll replace it now with the 53 man roster look which I'll zoom in on but first we want to look at the big picture the big picture Brandon auk is no longer shaded in blue the darker blue that signified the hold in we could zoom in on that receiver position and we could see that that receiver room is looking very very strong for the 49ers especially if Ricky peol can sustain good health he's back at practice now wearing the blue non- contct jersey but since we're talking about Brandon auk we will start with the receiver room and we can talk about the just the sheer efficiency of this Brandon iuk is one of the best X receivers in the game if you don't believe me look at this Brandon auk is is in the top right further to the right further up he is an outlier guess who else the 49ers have you want to be top right here or you at least want to be very extremely high up the Y AIS or very extremely to the right off the xais well they have Brandon auk as an outlier they've got Debo Samuel as an outlier because of his Yak producing ability both of those receivers are superstars in their own right and both of those receivers lead the 49ers room on the 53-man roster they resigned Jawan Jennings this off season he's one of the best blocking receivers in football runs great routes he separates just a Dependable guy a guy that you want on your team and you hate playing against so Jawan Jennings is part of that roster as well Chris Conley is Brandon auk's direct backup so we no longer have to talk about Chris Conley having the start games but we can talk about Chris Conley delivering as a gunner he's one of the best Gunners in the NFL last season especially in the playoffs had a hell of a Super Bowl for San Francisco Ricky peol is icing on the cake for this 49ers receiving room so is somebody like Jacob coing who replaces Ray Ray McLoud and is probably going to be the starting punt returner but when it comes to offensive impact Ray Ray McLoud was a gadget weapon I think Jacob Cowen could be something a little bit more than that because he's got a thicker frame but if you add Ricky peol and Jacob cowing onto this Trio I think the 49ers are already looking at a better receiving room than the one that they had last season and the receiving room they had last season was good enough to spearhead the number one offense in the NFL it's important to remember that Brock Pie as an elite quarterback is somebody that can make the receiving room better he made him very good last year he can make him even better this year and the receiving room it's a symbiotic relationship can also make Brock pie better you've got a speed threat like Co and then you just have extra stacked insurance like a Ricky peol the great news about piol and the way that the 49ers can approach this is that they don't have to rush him they have Brandon auk back fully now they've got Debo Samuel they've got Joan Jennings they've got Jacob coing they have Chris Conley hell they even have an emergency guy on the 53 man roster in Ronnie Bell they also have Terence Marshall Tay Martin and Trent Taylor a lot of people excited about Marshall I would pump the brakes until he gets acclimated into the system it's more about who the 49ers have on this side of the 53 man roster that is arguably the best receiving room in football so why don't we move on to the next part of the 49ers 53 you guys want to go straight to quarterback yeah I think we should go straight to quarterback they were very happy about what they were able to do as far as retaining all the talent in the quarterback room it's unclear who's going to be the two at this point is it going to be dos is it going to be Brandon Allen but more importantly at least right now the 49ers were able to keep four in the building so that's pie dos Allen and Tanner morai who they waved and they brought back to the practice squad I there were definite concerns at the start of this training camp that the 49ers quarterback room had weakened significantly behind Brock pie ever since last season after all they lost Sam darnold who's going to start for the Minnesota Vikings it's tough Sam darnold was a really good backup played well for the 49ers last year so they lost darnold because they obviously couldn't pay him 10 million that that's the money that he was awarded by Minnesota and they said well we're gonna resign Brandon Allen and we'll bring in somebody like Josh dobs at what like four million a year a lot less than Sam darnold was making and they you know they knew that dos had some upside but they also knew that upside is not everything but you have to learn the system and that things might be kind of rough early on and things were rough for Josh dobs early on thrown high he was missing guys over the middle of the field I scratched my head at the start of 49ers training camp but over time Josh dobs really impressed us he really impressed us over the course of games he's a gamer and Brandon Allen really impressed as well Tanner morai enough to stay on the practice squad the bottom line is that stockpiling quarterbacks is always a good idea so as we go through the roster 49ers got what they needed to do done at the cut down with the quarterback position then we move to the running back room I think that by next Tuesday we'll be taking Christian mcaffrey off of this injury report he's been working back from the strained calf muscle over the course of the past several weeks but he's the highest paid running back in the game he's still the best running back in the game and he's at the top of the 49ers room Jordan Mason is now officially the 49ers running back two Elijah Mitchell done for the season had to undergo hamstring surgery and they've got a nice little Insurance piece in Patrick Taylor Jr who was with the Packers last year Patrick Taylor if you you know you look at Patrick Taylor run we saw him against Vegas guy runs really really hard but what I like most about him is that he's a great pass protector and just that value alone as a running back as as long as they could be a replacement level Runner the pass protection alone especially in front of a big quarterback investment like Brock pie is very very important Taylor gives the 49ers a little bit of a floor in case Isaac gendo continues to fight through some of these muscle injuries first it was the hamstring now a little bit of a groin tweak fora gendo he's gonna have to find a way to work through conditioning to keep himself available at the NFL level but as long as he is available I think Isa greno might be your option at kick returner so far the longest kick return that we've seen I know it's just the preseason but across the entire NFL came from Isaac gendo on the 93 y against the Raiders week three of that preseason then there's Kean vaugh who the 49ers at it today back to the practice squad he was with them during training camp they needed a little bit more insulation after Cody shrer got picked off of waivers by the Rams I've given you iuk and the receiving room I would say you know the 49ers have one of the best quarterbacks in the league and Brock pie that's great they probably have one of the best quarterback rooms in the league I think that's they might have the best quarterback room in the league between pie dos and Brandon Allen that's a damn good quarterback room they've got the best running backs room in the league because any room with Christian mcaffrey and decent depth and I think that Jordan Mason is definitely decent depth that qualifies as number one mcaffrey is that Transcendent of a player and I think they arguably have the best receiving room in the league with auk and Samuel and Jennings and peol and coing and Conley I mean Conley is a heck of a backup X so the first three units of this 49ers offense are loaded and you know they were the data supports everything that I'm saying they were the number one offense in all football last year all the efficiency metrics love the 49ers offense the skill positions especially George KD he's at a skill position a tight end he's the best in the game especially if you combined the blocking they really like Eric sabert they hope they're going to get a little bit more out of tight end too receiving wise this year they're able to keep Mason p and Braden Willis on the practice squad they've got Jake tonis now making the 53-man roster it's a great example of a player who subscribed to the system developed and earned himself a spot so these four position groups money for the 49ers somebody earlier on said okay what do they still need to work on well the work isn't done here along the offensive line these are some sobering statistics the 49ers offensive line is ranked number 20 or worse in pass block win rate in each of the past well not I'll put it this way in five of the seven years under Kyle Shanahan they had two decent years pass blocking in 2021 and 2022 but it regressed again last season 49ers need to be better in past protection right now they're still missing Trent Williams so as much as we can talk about the impact of Brandon auk reigning the big left tackle is Mia on the left side maybe the terms of the Brandon auk deal helped the 49ers finish the structure of the Trent Williams deal but at this point we just can't be sure so Jaylen Moore is in line to be the 49ers starting left tackle and he's a swing tackle he's a backup left tackle in terms of skill that's a problem Aaron Banks is coming back from a broken pinky I talked to Aaron over at his locker today he said he's going to put kind of a metal thing on his pinky when he returns the practice next Tuesday I think that the 49ers biggest issue is at Center yes even bigger than left or right tackle without Trent Williams why because the depth is really really sketchy there and whereas you may be able to scheme some help for the tackle positions you can't scheme help for your Center if the Snaps are bad if the timing is off if the anchor is too weak you're in massive trouble at the center position any 49ers fan who watched the 2020 season will remember this it got really bad their season was derailed in Seattle when they were on their fourth or fifth string Center and the Seahawks are just blitzing the a gap with Bobby Wagner time and time and time again so that Center position just has to have solid performance you can hide at other spots for at least a short period of time I don't think you'd hide at all at center it's so important Jake Brendle played good football two years ago I think he regressed last year and I'm interested to see what he brings to the table this season I've seen some low snaps over the course of training camp and I know he's dealing with n tendonitis so what will he bring to the table and if he falters or if his knee is bothering him and he can't play what's behind him a lot of inexperience is the answer John Feliciano is on injured reserve he started a whole season at center for the New York Giants but he's currently not available he might be the guy later in the year but for now you'd have to rely on Nick zel you'd have to rely on Ben B player maybe even Dominic puny who snapped for Kansas in their spring game he played all five positions so it's it's thin ice for the 49ers at Center I think this this is the weakness in the entire roster assuming that you know Trent Williams obviously comes back after signing an extension or or or signing a rework deal with San Francisco the biggest weakness of the roster last year was Right Guard and they have ostensibly improved it with their draft pick Dominic puny who's slate at the start at Right Guard then of course you got colon mckivitz at right tackle you have to realize though that mckivitz can be better a in his second year of starting but also B he can be better if Dominic Poney a better Right Guard is next to him because the offensive line Works in cohesion and it's critical that they work in cohesion because it's a team sport it's not just about one guy blocking on an island so that's a look at the 49ers offense we can go now to the 49ers defense on this 53 man roster the Brandon auk addition to the practice mix for the 49ers is critical because it affected the whole roster while he was out he was taking up a 53 man roster spot without producing which meant that they had to carry an extra receiver if you carry an extra receiver then you have to take carry one fewer person on the defensive side of the ball and that kind of stuff can add up on you quickly in the NFL 53 man roster it's not very big for the of football so when you look at the 49ers defensive line they' carried who they wanted to on that defensive line but they're also at the bare minimum for Chris cacer rotation he's going to run rotations of eight men throughout a game all eight will probably play so you want to have capable bodies at all of these spots teal means that a player was added as a free agent this off seon there should be four teal spots if not for the injury to yur gross Matos who's still coming back from his knee injury but Malik Collins Jordan Elliott on the inside Leonard Floyd and gr Matos on the inside it's a drastically new defensive line for the 49ers I think they need a new look defensive line because last year they were number 26 in EPA against the Run they really struggled up the middle so what they do they let go of Eric Armstead when he wouldn't take the pay cut they let go of Javon kinlaw they let him go to the Jets they've rehauled the interior with somebody like Malik Collins destroyed a double team against the Raiders I thought that was extremely impressive Jordan Elliott was number six in Run Stop win rate last year for the Cleveland Browns I think that he could improve the 49ers presence against the run and it all becomes something that lives up to the Mantra of the defensive line stop the run to have some fun if they can improve against the run then they could unleash a pass rush that I think could be pretty damn good Javon arra is one of the best interior rushers in the game Bosa is one of the best in the game period Leonard Floyd is a 10- sack guy consistent 10- sack cleanup guy you need a cleanup guy on the other side of Nick Bosa you gr Matos they're hoping for him to be healthy as soon as possible he can slide inside he can theoretically slide inside and be in that Arden key Charles am menu role 49ers have a lot of options on the table have a cool video that I'm going to want to share with you when we get to the secondary that helps us update so the 49ers have managed and this this is just a little bit of Intel for you um there's going to be very low cap hits for the first couple years of the Brandon iuk deal I have confirmed that at this point so what the 49ers have structured the deal the way that I expected them to structure it and this is just a little interjection into my 49ers roster analysis and I will show you well here we need to go back to our Brandon IU contract analysis but I have some Intel for you low cap hits over the next couple years so this is what I wrote and this is how the 409ers structure all the deals so this is not not a big surprise this was back in April I showed you know the way that I structured this deal was I gave Brandon auk a hypothetical big signing bonus gave him a massive guaranteed option bonus as well basically 50 million or so for Brandon auk over the course of the first eight months the 49ers will be paying Brandon iuk 47 million over the course of the next eight months and they've probably done this through the signing bonus and the option bonus to keep the salary cap hits low early on so the salary cap hits will be low I'm estimating 8 million 12 million and 12 million we'll see how close I am to being right just had to bring you that little news flash why don't we go back to the 49ers 90 man roster here it is where were we at where yeah we at urr MOS and the defensive lineman but before I get to that I I had a couple videos that I definitely wanted to share with you from today involving tanoa huanga and Isaac yadam so I'm getting this huanga video out have to send it to the computer there it goes and Isaac yadam who's also back at practice we can toss that up to onto the screen as well he was hitting the blocking sleds it was a cool shot that I was able to get there it is all right both of those videos are going to be loaded up here in a second but first I want to talk about the 49ers linebacker room their defensive line is a big TBD for me as far as how well are these guys going to gel together obviously a lot of small details that you want to pay attention to if you're the 49ers when it comes to the shading up front on the offensive line and the rotations that Chris C ceric is gonna have to run the just it's a project to keep all the guys fresh working cohesively against the runs they could set up the pass rush that's why I say that the defensive line is a big TBD but we know that there's been a big overhaul of the defensive line the linebacker position has to work without Dre green law to begin the season but I think dandre Campbell to me he hadn't been bad so far I think he's been a solid player for San Francisco stepping into that two roll I thought Curtis Robinson was extremely impressive over Camp the way that he was sniffing out some of those plays in the back field that was good stuff from the 49ers Flanigan FES is more of a special teams player that you're using a pinch at linebacker and if you want real upside you know you could go once he's healthy you could go back to D Winters but I just think that you need to remove some of the lower play some of the downside first and then there's the project moving into the future but he was good enough to make the team and I he's the kind of guy that loves to hit in Tatum bethon out of Florida State I wrote a lot about him this off season so now as we move to the defense and the defensive backfield why don't we take a look at Isaac yadam back from his ankle injury Isaac Adam a big addition to this football team because last year you had the problem in the Super Bowl they didn't want to play Ambry Thomas outside so Deo Lenor to be outside which forced Logan Ryan into nickel back something the 49ers won't have to do this year because Isaac yam can take over the outside spot here's a good stat for you charvarius ward led the league with 24 passes defended last year Isaac yadam was at 14 ranked number 12 and he played only half a season for the Saints it's a it's a really nice stat for for Isaac yam which means they're gonna have a lot of confidence playing that guy on the outside and then ultimately maybe even reonardo green takes a spot this year the second round draft pick but yam makes it such that the fort Anders don't have to rush the rookie Renardo green Tatum bethon former teammate at Florida State we also got a look today at the return All Pro safety for the 49ers you may have heard of him his name is tanoa hunga there he is middle of the screen as jerseys rolled up jogging toward us unlikely that he's going to play against the Jets and if he does play if he's active then probably not a whole lot but I would think that the 49ers probably take their time with talanoa still cool stuff that he's back out there on the practice field they can work huanga back because they're much deeper than they were a couple years ago when they lost Jimmy Ward at the start of the season and they had to sign to Sean Gibson senior theyve got Tracy Walker who used to play for the Lions was with them for several straight years Tracy Walker should be able to give the 49ers some call up depth from the practice squad they've got Jer Brown they've got George odm you know who else they have is Malik mustaf I should play my Malik Mustafa interview talked to Malik in in the locker room today I'm actually going to cue that up while we're talking about the safety position this might have gotten lost in the shuffle today but talk to Malik about a lot of cool stuff and Malik he's gonna play sooner rather than later he's a good player it's gonna be really really tough to keep Malik Mustafa off the field you can just see how robust this secondary is and you know I could go back to what I wrote Today up on the athletic and this this is based on a quote from charvarius Ward the return turns of Tano oonga and Isaac yadam boost what the 49ers think could be the NFL's best secondary check this out we're gonna play the video with Malik Mustafa our interview in the locker room all right Malik so you have Dante Whitner on the schedule tonight to watch some tape oh Ronnie lot I guess you've met him a couple weeks ago and it seems that and this goes all the way back to when you were drafted you talked about watching John Lynch tape what is it about being able to watch some of these guys Hall of Famers great players in the past that that you try to take into your game yeah um just legendary players at the end of the day you know maybe can't play exactly the same how they used to play just because of how football is in today's game with the rules and everything but just the the mindset and instincts you know tenacity that they brought I feel like just carrying that as a football player in itself is going to make you a better player so definitely appreciate uh those Legends you know how they form the game how they represented and you know how can I you know make that and form that into my game as well I thought one of the funnier lines I'd ever heard a rookie say after the draft was when you said you'd have to dust off some of the VCRs for John Lynch have you been able to dust off some of the dcrs and what do you think about what you could take from his game or the way that he approached it mentally to apply it to yours yeah just being able to see the whole picture I feel like you know as a safety he was the last line of defense but being also being able to be the quarterback of the defense you know and just being able to you know know what's going on in front of you guys in different spots and you know how can you maybe uh pick up what the offense does before it plays snaps or you know get people align in order to play high you know fundamentally sound defense and execute at a high level um think that you know he was part of a defense that was able to you know have a long impact on the game of football and you know how can I you know be that anchor and how can we all be on a you know line on defense to to execute at a high level you talk about John's ability to see the whole picture it's only been a few months since you entered an NFL building but now he's the GM he's the boss and part of his job I guess is to see the whole picture does that you know fit with the duties of a safety can you see how he was able to move up from that position seeing the whole picture on the field to having to see the whole picture running in NFL building oh yeah definitely a lot of moving parts and you know he was was already prepared you know just being able how he carries himself and you know people trust in his vision and I feel like 49 is trust in what he's got going on and you know we've done a good job here and you know we're just scratching the suspance of what we can really become and it's always nice to even see him at practice you know he's at he's behind all of us you know he acts like he's the the back safety sometimes you know just you know watching everything unfold so um I'm appreciative of him you know trusting me like coming into this organization and just me you know being able to do my part and you know being able to you know just uh get better every day taleno is back now what have you been able to pick up from him now that he's actually a practice I know he's probably not in team drills but just him being out on the field is that uh given you any added benefit over the past couple days oh yeah definitely because his communication is is awesome just you know we only you know don't play uh you know sound football when we're not talking you know the big thing is that being able to communicate at a high level is how you know we're able to you know fly around and make plays and with him you know he's always over talking he's always talking about what we're doing what the offense is doing who's moving how can it affect our defense how can it affect our coverage and you know being able to you know just be ready for for what's to come and you know he's been doing that you know since the OTAs you know you know him just chopping up ball with me um things like that so you know me as a rookie just taking that and that approach into the season is going to help us you know keep elevating and keep you know getting to that you know nend no goal getting the six Championship so he just has that mentality every day speaking of championships finally uh John said it was embarrassing that some guys didn't know who Ronnie L was but obviously you knew who Ronnie lot was could you just take me back through the day when when I guess he came to the facility and and and how you got to interact with him yeah I was just getting breakfast and I ran into him and then he wanted to introduce me to him and as soon as I saw him I knew instantly who he was you know when we have our special teams being there's a big portrait of Ronnie lot um sitting on the bench so like as soon as I saw him I was like you know almost Star Struck in a way you know just a legendary you know NFL player Hall of Fame you know safety 49ers in NFL and it was just nice to just talk to somebody that just seen a lot not just football but just life in general so it was definitely just I was just appreciative of the opportunity cuz you know a lot of people don't get moments like that and every day when you walk out the I'm going to cut myself off there that was the last question and we uh left the locker room at that point but cool interview with Malik Mustafa could tell just a mature rookie for the 49ers and the end of our 53 man roster breakdown not a projection anymore an actual breakdown see who made that roster they brought back rocken into the fold darell lutter Jr made it obviously Mustafa at the back in there tanoh huanga he's back at practice I could actually take off the injury shading for tanoh huanga I think that's fair that's good that was fun fun times on the show today too we can go back and recap and then we can go but the final verdict on the deal is going to come in the next couple days you know I'm going to into the numbers in more detail and more accurately than anybody so stay tuned for that that will happen when we actually have the numbers we do know that the cap hits early on are very low for Brandon auk and based on the clues that we have very likely a win-win auk is generationally wealthy the 49ers have found something that fits into their salary cap structure so they can keep that as sustainable as possible that's the key you're gonna have to pour one out for 49ers Legend Amari Cooper and 49ers Legend Courtland Sutton both of those guys were in trade talks between the 49ers and other teams but neither of those two guys is going to be headed to San Francisco because Brandon auk four years 120 million 72 million in total guarantees we're GNA get more detailed numbers later remember it's the fully guaranteed money that really matters and the reason that you could hit a win-win is because because more guaranteed money which is something the player wants can also help the team because of the pration of signing bonuses so cash-rich teams teams who are willing to spend come out and top 49ers have more highly paid players than any other team in football because they're willing to spend they're willing to stockpile these guys and they're also able to procure these players either through the draft through free agency or through a trade next up is Trent Williams we'll talk to you soon