The San Francisco 49ers should enter the 2024 season with the NFL's best roster on paper.

However, contract disputes with left tackle Trent Williams and wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk have left both All-Pros out of practice. That opens up a slew of questions on what the 49ers' roster could look like when the regular season kicks off.

Given the turmoil around Aiyuk and the potential for him to be traded, it's not a huge surprise that wide receiver Jauan Jennings was named the 49ers' most intriguing preseason player by The 33rd Team. Jennings figures to see the biggest uptick in workload if Aiyuk doesn't play for San Francisco this season. While Jennings has produced as a third WR, he hasn't consistently had to play 80-plus percent of the team's offensive snaps. It's not a given he'll produce with more volume, which makes him an interesting player to keep an eye on.

The problem there is if/when Aiyuk returns to the field, the intrigue with Jennings mostly subsides. He's an excellent third receiver and he figures to slide back into that role in a fully-formed version of the 49ers' receiving corps.

We dug through the 49ers' roster and offseason story lines and came up with a handful of other players who could take the 'most intriguing' crown for San Francisco:

CB Deommodore Lenoir

Lenoir's coming out party was the 2022 playoffs when he allowed a 21.8 passer rating on 13 targets. He backed that up with an outstanding 2023 campaign that has him on the verge of a monster payday as he enters a contract year. Lenoir has already been a standout in camp and looks primed to make another leap. If he does, he'll get paid next year while helping the 49ers roll out an excellent secondary in 2024.

LB De'Vondre Campbell

It looks like Campbell won't have to compete for the starting Will linebacker job, so he'll be on the field for all three downs with LB Fred Warner at least until Dre Greenlaw is ready to return from a torn Achilles he suffered in the Super Bowl. The intrigue with Campbell surrounds whether he can still play at a high level. He struggled the last couple years in Green Bay, but he was an All-Pro as recently as 2021. Great linebacker play has been a key cog in San Francisco's defensive machine since 2019. They should be okay in the second level if Campbell can regain even 75 percent of that All-Pro form. If he can't, we may see the 49ers undergo some starting lineup changes during the season.

RB Jordan Mason

For the first time in a few years there may be some changes on the 49ers' running back depth chart. Elijah Mitchell has comfortably been ahead of former undrafted rookie Jordan Mason since Mason arrived in 2022. That remained the case after Christian McCaffrey arrived via mid-season trade in 2022, and it continued to be the case as Mitchell dealt with injuries that limited his availability to just 16 games the last two years. This offseason has been all about Mason, who first made waves because of his improved pass-catching skills. Then McCaffrey and Mitchell both went down with injuries and opened the door for Mason to take on a lead role. He's thriving in that spot and looks ready to shoulder a heavier workload in 2024. McCaffrey will get a lion's share of the RB snaps, but Mason might be the first RB off the bench.

OL Dominick Puni

The 49ers have consistently had a problem finding a high-caliber right guard. They've had decent starters there, but a Pro Bowl type of player there could fix perhaps the biggest hole on San Francisco's offense. Enter Puni, a third-round pick from Kansas University. There were some questions about where along the line he'd play. He erased any questions by immediately stepping in to take a hold of the first-team RG job when injuries removed Spencer Burford and Jon Feliciano from the equation. Puni already handles himself like a pro and his ceiling gives the 49ers an opportunity to have the best offensive line they've had under head coach Kyle Shanahan.

S Ji'Ayir Brown

Brown is another young defensive back who could offer a game-changing impact in the 49ers' secondary. Last season he was thrust into action when starting strong safety Talanoa Hufanga tore his ACL in Week 11. It wasn't a perfect five games in the starting lineup for Brown, but he did manage to haul in a couple of interceptions with another off Patrick Mahomes in the Super Bowl. Generating takeaways was a calling card for Brown at Penn State, and now he'll get his first full-time shot to start in the NFL. If he can continue creating turnovers at the clip he did a season ago he could wind up making a Pro Bowl and adding another defensive threat opposing offenses have to account for.

WR Ricky Pearsall

If we're picking an intriguing WR for the 49ers, Pearsall fits the bill better than Jennings given that we don't know much about how the rookie No. 31 overall pick will fit in the NFL. There's a chance he winds up earning snaps over Jennings in some formations this year. He could also be relegated to minimal work on offense while contributing on special teams as a return man. Injuries have kept Pearsall from stringing together enough practices to make an impact, but given how much the first-round pick means to their future a strong first season would be a welcome sight for the 49ers.

DL Yetur Gross-Matos

Gross-Matos was a somewhat under-the-radar signing for the 49ers after they added defensive end Leonard Floyd to start across from Nick Bosa. A lack of DE depth makes Gross-Matos a potentially key player on San Francisco's defensive line. He's a good edge setter in the run game, but he has enough size to rush the passer from the interior the way we saw with players like Charles Omenihu and Arden Key. If Gross-Matos has a breakout campaign in 2024 it would alleviate a ton of the potential issues facing the 49ers on the defensive line. If he's not a player San Francisco can rely on, they may not be able to generate enough pass rush to be dominant defensively.

This article originally appeared on Niners Wire: 49ers 7 most intriguing players in the preseason