The 49ers have a star-laden roster with all the names that have been around for a while.Now, the organization needs a few new names to emerge and take their spots at the front of the class alongside Brock Purdy, Christian McCaffrey, George Kittle, Trent Williams, Nick Bosa and Fred Warner.
Most of the 49ers’ key roles are well-defined as the team reports to NFL training camp in Santa Clara on Saturday.
Here are the top competitions to watch as the 49ers point toward their regular-season opener against the Los Angeles Rams in Australia:Left guardThe 49ers drafted guard Carver Willis in the fourth round of the 2026 NFL Draft, and he is likely to be involved in a competition for the job.
The team also signed Robert Jones, who started 17 games in 2024 with the Miami Dolphins before landing on injured reserve for the entire 2025 NFL season with a neck injury.
But the slight front-runner as camp opens is second-year player Connor Colby.
Colby was a seventh-round draft pick last year. He had a good training camp to put himself in position to start six games when Ben Bartch was injured. Colby’s play plateaued, and...