49ers sign 12 undrafted free agents

The San Francisco 49ers just announced they’ve waived K Corey Acosta, RB Kendall Gaskins and QB Dylan Thompson to make roster room for the following undrafted free agents:

1. Kevin Anderson, ILB, 6-4, 244, Stanford.
2. Alex Balducci, OG, 6-4, 310, Oregon.
3. Jered Bell, S, 6-1, 205, Colorado.
4. Devon Cajuste, WR, 6-4, 227, Stanford.
5. Demetrius Cherry, DE, 6-6, 300, Arizona State.
6. Jason Fanaikia, OLB, 6-3, 270, Utah.
7. Lenny Jones, OLB, 6-3, 270, Nevada.
8. Darren Lake, NT, 6-3, 315, Alabama.
9. John Lunsford, K, 6-1, 180, Liberty.
10. Blake Muir, OT, 6-6, 315, Baylor.
11. Norman Price, OG, 6-4, 311, Southern Mississippi.
12. Bryce Treggs, WR, 6-0, 185, Cal.

Which undrafted free agent do you think has the best chance to make the final roster, and why?

This article has 57 Comments

    1. Yeah, me too. He could either be looked at as a move TE, or more likely in that Riley Cooper role.

  1. I think Cajuste has the best chance as a motion TE. But don’t sleep on Jason Fanaikia; I think he’s worth a stash. Not only played DE at Utah, but also showed an ability to drop back in coverage. Good OLB candidate in a 3-4. Like him a lot.

    1. Cajuste is pretty light. I think he’d be better off as a big slot receiver.

    2. Just watched a little footage of him. Has flaws, but he’s an an impact tackler. Low pad level. Some similarities to Ronald Blair.

    3. Agree on both players. I went to a couple Utah games in 2015. Fanaika is decent.

  2. Interesting, CBS Sports has Devon Cajuste ranked as the number 22 receiver, and Aaron Burbridge as the number 20 ranked receiver, both listed as going in the 4th or 5th round. And they have Jason Fanaika listed as the number 15 DE end available and Ronald Blair as the number 13 DE available, both listed as third or fourth round possibilities. I don’t always agree with CBS Sports, but could very well of gotten some value here as well as depth.

  3. Finally the ILB that everyone wanted. A kicker from Liberty, no thanks, no god squaders welcome.

    1. Other Zilla… Glad you cleared the air on the religion matter…

  4. Question for you Grant. I noticed Balducci is listed as an OG. Typo or position switch?

  5. There’s some room on the Lenny Jones bandwagon ..
    u-hhh .. ya know ..
    in case anyone else wants to hop aboard :-}

    1. So true, any new addition could start.

      The only place the 49ers are good is defensive line.

      Every other position could use improvement!

  6. Cajuste is the popular choice, but I don’t know what they’d have to do to make room for him; there are 10 WRs and 6 TEs already. What are they going to do with White, Anderson, Simpson, Campbell, Patton, and Ellington? Presumably Smith, Rogers, Smelter, and Burbridge will be there. What are they going to do with VM, Hamm, Miller, and Anderson? Presumably Celek and Bell will be there. The transition from Harbaugh to Kelly (with a brief experiment where Tomsula was a proxy for Baalke) is going to be interesting to watch, as I wonder who (as between Kelly and Baalke) will determine the number of players used at each position and who those players will be. If Kelly has more influence than Baalke, then guys like VM, Miller, Patton, and Ellington would seem to be more on the bubble. With how things have gone already (not re-signing Boldin and standing pat in FA), I would expect the 49ers to retain unproven, young, explosive players (who have no value on the trade market) over established guys who just haven’t been very good (for whom they might get 5th-7th round picks). That would mean guys like White and Dres Anderson might be retained while Patton and Ellington are traded. But who knows? The amount of youth, speed, and size on the roster right now must be tantalizing to Chip Kelly, while the lack of production from these same position groups must be a massive source of consternation for Baalke.

    Without knowing much about anybody on that UDFA list, I’d think Anderson and Balducci would be the most likely to make it, the former because he’s a big guy who’s probably better than Skov and that ST player, and Balducci because he’s probably more useful alongside DB/AA than TJE would be.

    1. I don’t think Ellington is at risk at all. He has value in the return game and is the most likely candidate to fill the Darren Sproles role in CK’s offense.

    2. Given it sounds like they will look to transition Balducci to OL, doubt he makes the 53.

      Not sure why you presume Rogers will make the team. He’s a guy that had to go to the CFL to get noticed. Maybe he makes it, but certainly no guarantee.

      There is only 1 WR on this team that is NFL proven. The others are fighting for jobs.

      1. He’s by far the biggest WR on the team and was Chip Kelly’s personal selection. He’ll get at least a year.

        1. Cajuste is the biggest WR on the team, and is built like Riley Cooper, a guy Kelly loved.

          Rogers isn’t much bigger than Smelter.

          1. Scooter McG

            According to the 49ers website, Rogers is 6’3″, but according to Inman/Barrows or one of those dudes, he towers over Smelter and everyone else, and is estimated to be a shade under 6’5″. Rogers won’t be cut. You know the story about his 16 contract offers and the famous call from Chip Kelly 45 minutes after Chip became coach of the 49ers.

  7. You don’t know how they would make room for Cajuste if he is good?

    Come on man are you kidding?

    None of those guys you listed are going to be mistaken for Calvin Johnson or anything.

    Any one of them could be cut and the average fan wouldn’t even know they were gone.

    The roster is filled with 4th ranked talent at those positions.

    If Cajuste is good there is room for him.

    1. Fortunately for us all, the average fan is no longer the 49ers head coach.

      You don’t know anything about any of those WRs, other than Torrey Smith and Jerome Simpson (because they both had opportunities to show who they were before they came to SF).

  8. Top-10 first-round picks most likely to bust, in no particular order.

    Jared Goff
    Joey Bosa
    Eli Apple
    Laremy Tunsil
    Karl Joseph
    Taylor Decker
    Keanu Neal
    Will Fuller
    Artie Burns
    Germain Ifedi

    1. I actually agree with the list to a great degre. Think Bosa and Goff are way overrated.

      1. Grant

        I will go along with Eastcoast9er in that I agree very strongly with you….Fuller and Ifedi I believe will be more Boom than Bust….

        1. Yeah, that’s a good point. He does know how to keep it simple and get the best out of physically talented QBs.

      1. Paxton Lynch is shepherded by Leigh Steinberg, who also represented Warren Moon, Troy Aikman, Ben Roethlisberger, and Steve Young, as well as by John Elway, who knows the importance of the QB position and will do everything he needs to do to ensure Lynch’s success.

      2. Scooter

        Lynch was my ace in the hole…’would like to have seen what ‘Chip’ could have done with him….

    2. Carson Wentz is going to be the biggest bust of this season. He has to work in PHI for the worst FO in football and behind a paper OL.

    3. What makes Apples more likely to bust then Hargreaves or any of the other CB’s taken? Same thing for the other positions. What makes these players more susceptible to busting out then the others?

    4. Laremy Tunsil will NOT be a bust. How many top 10 OTs have been a bust in the past 10years? Zero!

      My bust candidate is Buckner

      1. Nick,
        Unless he smokes himself out of the league. There are quite a few of those.

        1. What are the qualities of a top 10 OT and which doesn’t Tusnil possess?

              1. I think Grant means he has the qualities of a top ten OT pick, he just wasn’t taken in the top ten.

  9. Top hit rates by position among players drafted from 1999 to 2012, according to 3sigmaathlete.com:

    Round 1a (1-16). TE (100% hit rate), RB (89), S (84), DL (81), WR (79)
    1b (17-32). TE (91), S (80), CB (70), WR (69), LB (67)
    2. TE/CB (62), LB (54), S (52), OL (51)
    3. EDGE (43), S (37), WR (34), LB (31), RB (29)
    4. TE (28), LB (27), WR (26), S (25), EDGE (23)
    5. DL (26), S (25), EDGE (24), CB (16), LB (14)
    6. TE (21), OL (16), LB (13), EDGE (11), DL (10)
    7. OL (16), S (13), LB (12), CB (10), RB (9)

  10. Hit rates of the positions the 49ers drafted in 2016, based on where each player was taken:

    1a. DL — 81
    1b. OL — 66
    3. CB — 22
    4. CB — 16
    5. DL — 26
    5. OL — 13
    5 OL — 13
    6. QB — N/A
    6. RB — 7
    6. WR — 5
    7. CB — 10

  11. Best value, by position:

    OL: Round 7, Round 6, Round 2, Round 1b, Round 1a
    WR: 4, 3, 1b, 1a, 2
    RB: 1a, 3, 7, 6, 1b
    TE: 1a, 1b, 2, 6, 4
    DL: 5, 1a, 6, 4, 3
    EDGE: 3, 5, 6, 4, 7
    LB: 4, 7, 2, 6, 3
    CB: 2, 1b, 7, 5, 1a
    S: 5, 1b, 3, 1a, 4

  12. I don’t think any of these players make it to the final roster but one of them that I think has a chance of being put on the p/s is Lenny Jones. If he’d had a better 40 time he probably would have been drafted. I’d like to find what his 10 yard split is but haven’t been able to.

      1. I’m not sure if you’re guessing or alluding to a number you found.

          1. Ok the 10 yard split, good. Where did you find that?

            1.66 isn’t bad. He might have a chance.

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