Roster math, camp battles, and a 53-man projection that gets graded on cut day.
Every player on the roster bubble, graded 0–10 on confidence they make the initial 53. Locks, near-locks, the open battles that actually decide the back end, and an injury watch. It gets graded against the real 53 on cut day.
Opening the season in Melbourne compresses every rehab timeline the 49ers are running. The PUP decisions on George Kittle and Mykel Williams are the ones it touches hardest.
The 49ers open camp with 21 roster locks and no quarterback drama. What is left is twelve genuinely open jobs, and the best story among them belongs to a rookie punter with excellent timing.