3 49ers to Watch in the First Preseason Game Against Denver

Football is finally back tomorrow for the San Francisco 49ers .

Well, kind of.

Its the 49ers first preseason game, so that will do for now.

This is the first step towards closing in on the regular season.

Its also the first time most people will get a chance to see how the 49ers offseason additions will look.

Keeping a close eye on every player is extremely difficult, which is why these are the three 49ers to watch against the Denver Broncos .

Upton Stout Im not sure if theres another player on the 49ers who comes close to being must watch against the Broncos as much as rookie Upton Stout .

If youre on social media or follow any beat reporter, like Grant Cohn, whos at the practices, then youve been seeing a ton of hype on Stout.

Hes been killing it in every practice and just had a solid outing in joint practice with Denver.

Its lining up for him to showcase what everyone who hasnt been in attendance for 49ers training camp has been missing.

If he pans out, its going to do a lot for the 49ers defense.

Moving Deommodore Lenoir to the outside is a bold and risky move because hes so great inside, especially replacing Lenoir with a rookie.

However, it appears Stout is tapping into the ideal nickel cornerback that Robert Saleh loves, which is a scrappy, run-fitting one, much like the former 49er KWaun Williams.

Jordan Watkins Another rookie whos been having a solid training camp is wide receiver Jordan Watkins.

With Brandon Aiyuk, Jauan Jennings, Jacob Cowing, and, at one point, Ricky Pearsall out, its allowed Watkins to receive more opportunities.

Thats music to a rookie's ear, especially for the 2025 49ers.

There is no better year for a rookie to carve out a role than this one.

Watkins has a chance to tie together a solid training camp by playing strongly against the Broncos in the first preseason game.

It will go a long way for him if he can accomplish that.

A bad performance wont kill him, but it would derail him somewhat.

Kyle Shanahan is harsh on rookies, even in a year where theyre open to them playing more.

Playing below average in the preseason game after looking solid in practice will hurt him.

Dee Winters The stock of linebacker Dee Winters has been rising over the past 10 days.

It shows how much work hes put in to get to where hes at, and also it helps to motivate him by dangling the starting job in front of him to be alongside Fred Warner.

With Winters stock rising, it makes for an exciting player to closely watch against the Broncos.

Hes placed himself in a prime position to create significant distance between himself and Nick Martin for the starting job.

However, similar to Watkins, a subpar performance will hurt him.

It wont derail everything, but it will cause Saleh to wonder if the lights are too bright for him.

Winters has to have at least an average game that keeps his stock from drastically plummeting.

Otherwise, hes going to have to make up for it in the next practices and preseason games.

Read more.

This article has been shared from the original article on si, here is the link to the original article.