Playing for Jobs

Several 49ers under microscope down the homestretch

- Craig Massei

Don’t try and tell the 49ers there is nothing left to play for over the final stretch of this truly wretched 2016 season.

There are several of them who know better.

To be sure, as the 49ers stagger to their Jan. 1 finish line against the Seattle Seahawks, there are numerous veterans who — rather than simply playing out the string in another lost season — are playing for something substantially significant:

Their jobs.

With the 49ers producing a season that will go down in franchise infamy, you’ve got to wonder who is really safe among any player that resides anywhere close to the fringe of the roster. And there also are a few individuals who reside among the upper crust who must show the team’s brain trust that they can still be part of the solution despite inevitable factors such as age and salary that might be valid reasons to make them part of the past.

A past that includes this season, one of the worst in 49ers history. As this 2016 debacle reaches its end, and with another potential roster shakeup on the horizon, team officials will be watching closely and evaluating the performances of several players who may or may not have a future with the team.

Here, The Niner Report takes a look at 11 key 49ers veterans who will be under the microscope down to the finish of this season. These are individuals that could be playing down the homestretch for their futures with San Francisco — and, in some cases, even their NFL careers — and we analyze the reasons that is so with each particular player.

QB Colin Kaepernick