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The San Francisco 49ers may have won just four games this past season, but they are entering a 2019 campaign full of hope, as they have a roster full of young talent on both sides of the ball and could actually be a force in a couple of years.
Of course, the 49ers won't exactly be playoff contenders this season, but they will certainly be interesting to watch and should certainly be more competitive than they were a year ago.
San Francisco will kick off its preseason this Saturday when it plays host to the Dallas Cowboys, but the unfortunate thing is that Jimmy Garoppolo will not be playing, as the Niners are taking it very easy with him in his recovery from a torn ACL.
Regardless, here are three storylines surrounding the 49ers heading into this first preseason game.
3. How Will Kyle Shanahan Allocate Carries?
The 49ers have a three-headed monster of sorts with Tevin Coleman, Matt Breida, and Jerick McKinnon in the backfield, and head coach Kyle Shanahan has already said he is trying to determine a pecking order for the group.
Breida was the primary ball-carrier this past year, as Coleman was playing for the Atlanta Falcons and McKinnon was sidelined with a torn ACL, but with the addition of Coleman and McKinnon (hopefully) on the mend, San Francisco's ground game should be much more versatile in 2019.
It should be noted that McKinnon experienced a minor setback in training camp, so his status for the preseason is up in the air. It also seems like Coleman will be end up being the No. 1 back, and based on McKinnon's current injury issue, Breida will probably be the No. 2.
Hopefully, McKinnon can get back healthy to provide that extra depth and a pass-catching threat out of the backfield, but we'll see in this first preseason game whom Shanahan appears to be favoring.
2. Which Receivers Will Step Up?
The Niners have a whole lot of young talent in their receiving corps, but they don't have a No. 1 receiver. Dante Pettis is probably the leading candidate, but rookies Deebo Samuel and Jalen Hurd have a shot, as well.
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Obviously, this group of receivers will need to flesh itself out to determine a specific order, but what may end up happening is Garoppolo (whenever he starts playing) may just test out all of his receivers and throw to all of them to see with whom he is most comfortable.
It's not like the 49ers are under any pressure to contend in 2019, so this could sort of be considered a trial year. Because of that, San Francisco should feel free to experiment and see which players will be best moving forward.
We'll probably get a general idea in preseason of what the receiving depth chart will look like.
1. The Health of Jimmy Garoppolo
The 49ers acquired Garoppolo in a trade with the New England Patriots in October 2017, hoping he would be their quarterback of the future. He started five games for the club that year, and this past season, he played in just three games before going down with the ACL tear.
While Garoppolo has shown flashes of brilliance in limited action, San Francisco still doesn't really know for sure what it has in Garoppolo just yet, but hopefully, we'll get to see a full season of the 27-year-old in 2019.
The Niners are understandably being very cautious with Garoppolo, so it remains to be seen when he will actually get on the field. We also don't know for sure how he is going to come back from what was a very serious injury, so there are a lot of question marks here.
What we do know is that the 49ers are relying heavily on Garoppolo being a centerpiece going forward.
