SANTA CLARA — One week left, dozens of choices still to be sorted through.

By 3 p.m. next Sunday, coach Kyle Shanahan and normal supervisor John Lynch must trim their roster from the 90 in coaching camp to the 53 who will open the season.

Three days later, they will board a 16-hour flight to Melbourne, Australia.

San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan directs against the Los Angeles Chargers during an NFL soccer preseason recreation in Inglewood, Calif., on Thursday, August 20, 2026. (Represented by ZUMA Press, Inc.) ZUMAPRESS.com

“I can’t even think about that yet,” defensive coordinator Raheem Morris said Saturday, after the group started its last week of follow stateside with place battles still to be decided.

“There’s a lot of guys doing really good things. … There are a lot of really good things on this football team and really hard decisions for our management, our coaches, everybody involved.”

Some choices will be simpler than others.

These are 5 questions 49ers brass will think about going into cutdown day:

Do they want outside assist on the offensive line?

Not speaking about the tackles, where the 49ers are as sturdy as any group in soccer with Trent Williams holding down the left edge and Colton McKivitz on the reverse aspect.

But they just might want to look outside the group for assist on the inside.

“No one’s really completely made it easy on us yet,” Shanahan said this week of the competitors to begin at left guard. “I still think we’ve got a lot more time to go, not a ton, but enough for guys to step up and do it.”

It wasn’t essentially a ringing endorsement of the subject competing for the job that the 49ers determined to deliver a fourth entrant into the combine Thursday night time against the Chargers.

Austen Pleasants began the recreation at left deal with but ended up taking virtually as many snaps at left guard. Connor Colby was thought-about the front-runner coming into camp but took most of his snaps at proper guard as he seems to now be preventing for a second-string swingman place.

Given the underwhelming exhibiting from the other three and Pleasants’ late entrance to the battle, he might have been in pole place for the beginning job in Week 1.

But he left with a non-ACL knee damage that the 49ers wanted to do further imaging on. Robert Jones, a veteran free agent also in the operating, left with an unspecified damage that Shanahan said will also hold him out of their last preseason recreation this week.

That leaves rookie Carver Willis, a fourth-round decide who performed completely deal with in faculty at Washington and Kansas State. He also missed a week early in camp with a concussion, which Shanahan said put him “a little behind the 8-ball.”

But he was the one who began at left guard Thursday and logged the most snaps (42).

“When you go inside, there’s a lot more going on schematically and stuff like that. That’s one of the things we liked about him,” Shanahan said of Willis. “It’s going to go down to the wire. It seemed like both of those guys [Willis and Pleasants] did good today.”

Who will and who won’t be prepared for Week 1?

The largest variable that will form the 49ers’ roster is availability.

Mykel Williams and Isaac Guerendo appear probably to take their Physically Unable to Perform designations into the common season, ruling them out for the first 4 video games but assuaging some stress on 49ers decision-makers, who will have two additional roster spots to play with.

George Kittle, on the other hand, is adamant that he will keep away from the PUP record. But he still hasn’t practiced and won’t essentially be prepared for the season opener less than three weeks away.

The trickiest conditions contain veterans introduced in to play essential roles but have been unable to keep on the subject. The 49ers will be in a position to place two gamers presently on the roster on injured reserve with the capability to return after 4 weeks, but they may have to resolve between Christian Kirk (calf), Brett Toth (concussion), Vederian Lowe (ankle) and Nate Hobbs (groin).

The excellent news is that Kittle, Christian McCaffrey and Nick Bosa all seem to be trending in the proper path.

Is there room for a punt return specialist?

The receiver room is crowded, particularly if the Niners resolve to carry Kirk on the 53-man roster. Perhaps that’s one motive we saw Deebo Samuel back deep on two punts Thursday night time.

Samuel is already listed as the No. 1 kick returner, but he’s never returned a punt in his NFL profession. In a world with out Jacob Cowing or Jordan Watkins, he might be their most suitable choice.

It might not come to that if one of them can show to be a actual difference-maker on particular groups, like Cowing did with his 83-yard punt return landing.

San Francisco 49ers extensive receiver Jacob Cowing catches a move during the NFL soccer group’s coaching camp on Saturday, August 1, 2026, in Santa Clara, Calif. (Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved) AP Photo/Jeff Chiu

It was the first time a 49ers punt returner had taken one to the home since 2011. Cowing served as their punt returner in 2024. Was it enough for the small, shifty slot receiver to lock up a roster spot?

“Not yet,” Shanahan said. “But, I like that he’s making it [the decision] a little easier.”

How does the linebacking corps shake out?

It’s Fred Warner, Dre Greenlaw and everybody else.

Within that second tier, fifth-round rookie Jaden Dugger seems to have pushed previous fellow lengthy, athletic linebackers Larry Worth III and Jalen Graham for the beginning job on the robust aspect.

That’s where he began Thursday night time, alongside Tatum Bethune and Nick Martin, Warner and Greenlaw’s two probably backups. That’s hardly set in stone, though, as the 49ers have preferred what they’ve seen from Garret Wallow, and they have to discover area for Luke Gifford, who has missed most of camp with a hamstring damage but was a Pro Bowler on particular groups last season.

San Francisco 49ers linebacker Jaden Dugger (53) waits to rush during the second quarter against the Tennessee Titans at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, on Thursday, August 13, 2026. (This asset – including all textual content, audio and imagery – is supplied by Imagn Images. Reuters Connec) IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

What about security and defensive deal with?

There isn’t much thriller about the starters, or even most of the second-stringers, at these positions. Osa Odighizuwa has appeared like a monster inside, and either Marques Sigle or Malik Mustapha will begin reverse Ji’Ayir Brown in the secondary, relying on Mustapha’s well being.

But some of the last roster choices will be made at these spots further down the depth chart.

San Francisco 49ers guard Connor Colby (75) blocks Tennessee Titans offensive deal with Dan Moore Jr. (75) in the fourth quarter at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, on Thursday, August 13, 2026. (This asset – including all textual content, audio and imagery – is supplied by Imagn Images. Reuters Connec) IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Keep an eye on Sebastian Valdez, James Thompson Jr. and Bryson Eason in the battle to be part of Odighizuwa, Alfred Collins, CJ West and Gracen Halton on the inside defensive position. Thompson, an undrafted rookie out of Illinois, has been a camp standout and graded out as the 49ers’ prime move rusher and run defender against the Chargers, per Pro Football Focus.

The fourth security is probably to come down to Siran Neal, a particular groups standout last season, or Ashtyn Davis, who also has a robust case to make on particular groups, given that he performed under coordinator Brant Boyer for 4 seasons with the Jets.