Top 9 Practice Squad Graduates

The 49ers entered the 2019 season with five players on the team’s 53-man roster that began their NFL careers on San Francisco’s practice squad, several of which have played significant roles during the team’s best start to a season in almost 30 years. San Francisco’s developmental squad has been a launching pad to successful NFL careers for numerous players since the league adopted its current structure for those units during the 1990s, and here’s the best to emerge with the 49ers and make the biggest impact on the team during the embryonic stages of their careers.

- Craig Massei

1 Alex Boone (2009): A highly-regarded prospect coming out of college who went undrafted partially due to concerns regarding alcohol abuse, Boone got his life together and his football career flourishing after spending his rookie season on San Francisco’s practice squad. Entering San Francisco’s starting lineup in 2012, Boone performed at a near-Pro Bowl level for several seasons on one of the NFL’s best offensive lines, starting 59 games over the next four years at both guard positions before leaving the 49ers to sign a four-year, $26.8 million deal with Minnesota in 2016 free agency.

2 Junior Bryant (1994): After a year on the developmental squad, Bryant emerged the next season for the defending Super Bowl champions, starting four games and beginning a run of 83 consecutive games played as a key cog in San Francisco’s defensive line for a team that went to the playoffs each season. The final 29 of those games were starts — Bryant recorded five sacks in 1998 and 4.5 sacks in 1999 — before his career was cut short by a serious neck injury early in the 2000 season.