3 Broncos who cannot afford another preseason dud against 49ers

The Denver Broncos will go on the road to face the San Francisco 49ers on Saturday night in preseason action. There are still several things the Broncos need to show before the preseason concludes and Saturday night will be a key game for multiple players on this roster.

The Broncos lost their preseason opener to the Arizona Cardinals and though that loss doesn't count in the standings for the coming season, the team did not look good in many aspects of the game.

As a result, there are a handful of players that will not be able to afford a repeat poor performance against the Niners. If that occurs, these players will be in jeopardy of looking for a new team to play for or, at the very least, their position with the team could be considered shaky going forward.

Broncos players who can't afford a preseason dud against the 49ers: Brett Maher, Kicker

Obviously.

Brett Maher missed both of the field goals he tried against Arizona (one was blocked) but he didn't come into Denver on a hot streak. He will always be remembered as the guy missing all of those extra points in a playoff game last year unless he does things consistently well.

He didn't start his Denver run in a good direction.

The Broncos parted ways with their other kicker, Elliott Fry, earlier in the week, and reports out of camp this week suggested that Maher was kicking the ball well. But none of that is going to matter until it translates to the field in an actual game.

I don't think Maher is going to be the team's Week 1 kicker no matter what as the team will have other options when other teams around the league make cuts to get down to their 53-player rosters. But if he misses more kicks in this game, the Broncos might not even wait that long.

Broncos who can't afford to have a preseason dud against the 49ers: Jarrett Stidham, Quarterback

The Broncos signed Jarrett Stidham to a two-year, $10 million deal this offseason to be the backup to Russell Wilson and while that job may not exactly be in jeopardy, it could be with another performance like he had last week.

Stidham was about as bad as anyone on the Broncos in last week's loss to the Cardinals. He completed just five of his 15 pass attempts and some of his throws were not even close. He looked quite bad.

To make matters worse, Ben DiNucci, serving as the team's No. 3 quarterback, came on in relief and played considerably better than Stidham. DiNucci completed 7-of-9 pass attempts for 57 yards and he also took the team on a drive for a late touchdown that would have won the game if the defense could have held.

DiNucci looked much more comfortable out there than Stidham did. If the same is true in this game against San Francisco, things could get interesting.

Broncos who can't afford to have a preseason dud against the 49ers: Garett Bolles, Left Tackle

The Broncos' offensive line seemed to struggle against the blitz-happy Cardinals last week and that unit needs to be much better as a whole in this game. Much of the focus will be on left tackle Garett Bolles, who did not look good against Arizona in his first game back since suffering a broken leg last year.

There does seem to be some quiet chatter building that the Broncos could move on from Bolles before the season starts. Personally, I don't subscribe to that idea at all, but with the money the team could save, it's not out of the realm of possibilities.

Bolles needs to hold up better against the 49ers and come out and make the most of every snap he is on the field for. Reportedly, the starters should see at least 20 snaps in this game, but Bolles needs to show that he is the best offensive lineman on this roster and shut that chatter down.

If not, the team could be inclined to make a move to save some money and get out from under the contract of its former first-round pick.