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October 19, 2026
49ers Notebook

Christian Kirk is out Monday, which leaves one game inside his practice window

The 49ers elevated Jalen Graham and Malik Turner and downgraded Kirk in the same 1:08 p.m. release. Mike Evans is active, and so are the other four who were questionable.

SK
Sam KezarOct 19, 20263 min read
Every call on this site goes on a public ledger and gets graded. The misses stay up.
Malik Turner, in the 49ers' red practice jersey with his name on the back and a gold helmet, reaches up with both hands for a ball arriving over his right shoulder on the club's practice field, with staff and players in red and white behind him.

The 49ers announced three things at 1:08 p.m. Pacific on Monday, in one release. Linebacker Jalen Graham and receiver Malik Turner were elevated from the practice squad for the Washington game. Christian Kirk's status was downgraded from questionable to out. There was no activation and no corresponding move, so the 53 is the 53 it was on Saturday.

Kirk's window is now a short one. The club opened his 21-day practice window off injured reserve on Thursday, Oct. 15, 81 days after he strained a calf on the first day of camp, and he was limited all three days of practice, per the club's report. Kyle Shanahan's whole answer on Saturday to whether Kirk would be activated for Monday was "Possibly." The answer on Monday was the release. Under the league's rule the 49ers have 21 days from Oct. 15 to put him on the active roster or leave him on reserve for the season. After Monday night, one game sits inside that window, at Atlanta on Sunday, Oct. 25. The bye is the week after, and the 21 days run out before Las Vegas visits on Nov. 8. Kirk, as quoted by 49ers Webzone on Monday, said he had told the staff he was ready: "Just felt like I kind of got over that hump and feeling like myself again."

The roster math has not moved and that is the point. The club has 53 men on the active list plus Dre Greenlaw on reserve/suspended, and it promoted Ogbo Okoronkwo into the spot Greenlaw's suspension opened on Oct. 15. Greenlaw is eligible to return Tuesday. Kirk needs a spot too, whenever the club decides he has earned one.

Evans is active, and so is everyone else who was questionable. The club posted its inactive list at 3:44 p.m.: quarterback Kurtis Rourke, offensive lineman Enrique Cruz Jr., Deebo Samuel, Garret Wallow, Marques Sigle, Nick Bosa, out a fourth straight game with his knee and calf, and defensive lineman Naquan Jones. Mike Evans, Gracen Halton, Mykel Williams, Siran Neal and Upton Stout, the five listed questionable on Saturday, all dress, and Kyle Juszczyk is back after missing Seattle with his knee. Evans did not practice Thursday, Friday or Saturday with his ribs and Achilles soreness, and the afternoon had pointed this way: Adam Schefter said on the Pat McAfee Show that the 49ers were "optimistic" he would play and wanted to see him in warmups, in an item NBC Sports' player-news desk posted at 1:54 p.m. He leads the 49ers with 24 catches for 326 yards and three touchdowns. Jones is the one healthy scratch on the defensive line; with Bosa out and Jones down, nine of the 11 defensive linemen on the 53 are in uniform.

Turner is the fifth receiver, which is the count Shanahan said he wanted. Deebo Samuel is out with a hamstring. With Evans active, the receivers in uniform are Evans, Brandin Cooks, Jacob Cowing, Jordan Watkins and Turner. Shanahan said on his Oct. 12 conference call that the club likes five receivers up on game day and would most likely elevate one from the practice squad during the week. Turner is that one for the second time. He was elevated for the Denver game on Oct. 3 and played 17 snaps on special teams and none on offense, per NBC Sports Bay Area. This is his second standard elevation of the season; the league allows three, and a fourth game means signing him to the 53. He has been on the practice squad since Oct. 1, the day Cooks was promoted and KhaDarel Hodge was released.

Graham makes five linebackers for the night. Wallow is out with a hamstring and Greenlaw is serving his one-game suspension, which left Fred Warner, Jaden Dugger, Luke Gifford and Tatum Bethune on the 53. Graham, a seventh-round pick of the 49ers in 2023 out of Purdue, has played 15 regular-season games across three seasons, per ESPN, and none this year. NBC Sports' Pro Football Talk counts 220 career snaps on special teams and 38 on defense and expects him to take Wallow's special-teams work. The elevation is his first of the season; the one on the club's log from Jan. 3 belongs to last season.

Washington moved three men onto its 53 and two off it. The Commanders' transaction log, dated Monday, has cornerback Trey Amos, running back Jeremy McNichols and linebacker Jordan Magee activated from injured reserve, all three of them questionable on Saturday's report with ankle, quadriceps and hamstring injuries. Running back Jacory Croskey-Merritt, the club's leading rusher at 67 carries for 239 yards and already ruled out with a groin, went on injured reserve, as did linebacker Javontae Jean-Baptiste, also already out. The league's reserve-list wire carries both. Linebacker Austin Keys was released. Washington's inactive list, posted at 3:44 p.m. Pacific, is six names: Marcus Mariota, Fabian Moreau, Isaac Yiadom, TJ Maguranyanga, Tanoa Togiai and Charles Omenihu. Stefon Diggs, questionable with a hamstring, is active, and so are the three men activated from injured reserve.

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San Francisco hosts Washington on Monday night at Levi's Stadium, 5:15 p.m. Pacific, on ESPN and ABC. Deebo Samuel is out with a hamstring and Mike Evans did not practice all week with ribs and an Achilles, which leaves Brandin Cooks, Jacob Cowing and Jordan Watkins as the receivers on the 53 without a designation. Christian Kirk is in his practice window off injured reserve and Shanahan would say only that activating him is possible. Nick Bosa sits a fourth straight game. Washington arrives 1-3-1 with Jayden Daniels back from an elbow injury, its leading rusher out, and its backup quarterback out.

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Deebo Samuel played 76 percent of the snaps and was not targeted once
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Deebo Samuel played 76 percent of the snaps and was not targeted once

San Francisco has five wide receivers on its 53-man roster for Sunday against Denver: Mike Evans, Deebo Samuel Sr., KhaDarel Hodge, Jacob Cowing and Jordan Watkins. Evans left the Arizona game with a rib injury that Shanahan called not long-term. Samuel played 41 of 54 offensive snaps on Sunday, Hodge played 30 and has no official target, and Cowing has 46 snaps and no catch this season. Brandin Cooks is on the practice squad and was not elevated for Arizona. Christian Kirk cannot play before Week 5.

Sam KezarSep 29, 20263 min read
De'Zhaun Stribling Is Out At Least A Month, And Injured Reserve Would Cost At Most One Game More
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De'Zhaun Stribling Is Out At Least A Month, And Injured Reserve Would Cost At Most One Game More

De'Zhaun Stribling has a deltoid sprain in his ankle and is out at least a month, Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reported Sunday morning; the rookie is still seeking opinions and may need surgery, though none is planned. San Francisco has filed nothing: read at 4:50 p.m. Pacific Sunday, the club's transaction log still ends on September 10 and Stribling is still on the Active table. The reported month rules him out of Miami on September 20, Arizona on September 27 and Denver on October 4 whether he goes on injured reserve or not. The four-game minimum that comes with the designation adds at most one more, October 11 at Lumen Field, and Christian Kirk becomes eligible to return from injured reserve for that same game. The first club document that has to say anything is Wednesday's injury report; Nick Avila of NBC Sports Bay Area reported that the players do not practise until then. Behind Stribling the active roster carries Mike Evans, Demarcus Robinson, Deebo Samuel, Jacob Cowing and Jordan Watkins, and Watkins was inactive in Melbourne. One take filed, priced at -120.

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Kyle Shanahan ruled out Nick Bosa (knee, calf), Deebo Samuel (hamstring), Garret Wallow (hamstring) and Marques Sigle (ankle) for Monday night against Washington. Mike Evans, Christian Kirk, Gracen Halton, Mykel Williams, Upton Stout and Siran Neal are questionable. Kyle Juszczyk is expected to play, eight days after missing Seattle. Asked whether Kirk will be activated off injured reserve, Shanahan said \"Possibly\"; the 53 is full, so that takes a corresponding move.

Sam KezarOct 17, 20263 min read
Juszczyk practiced in full, and Lynch says there is a chance he plays Monday
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Juszczyk practiced in full, and Lynch says there is a chance he plays Monday

Kyle Juszczyk was a full participant in Friday's practice, 12 days after a hyperextended knee and bone bruise, and John Lynch told KNBR there is a chance he plays Washington on Monday. Christian Kirk was limited; activating him would cost someone a spot on a full 53. Nick Bosa, now listed with knee and calf, did not practice, nor did Mike Evans, Gracen Halton or Romello Height. Lynch said trade calls have picked up and that George Kittle asked him about Khalil Mack. Kittle said he asks all the time.

Sam KezarOct 16, 20263 min read
Christian Kirk returned to practice the day Mike Evans sat out
49ers Notebook

Christian Kirk returned to practice the day Mike Evans sat out

The 49ers opened Christian Kirk's 21-day practice window on Thursday, 81 days after he strained a calf on the first day of training camp, and Kyle Shanahan said he was ready to go after a strong weekend. Mike Evans did not practice with ribs and Achilles soreness, which leaves the receiver room thinner than Monday's count. Shanahan called injured reserve for Deebo Samuel 'a possibility.' Nick Bosa, James Thompson Jr. and Gracen Halton sat out Thursday; Kyle Juszczyk was limited. The club promoted Ogbo Okoronkwo to the 53 into the spot Greenlaw's suspension opened and signed linebacker Eugene Asante to the practice squad. Washington is at Levi's Stadium on Monday night.

Sam KezarOct 15, 20263 min read

On the record

Called Shots →
Held upAug 1, 2026

On 2026-09-10, at least three of the wide receivers on San Francisco's active roster are men the 49ers' own roster page lists at age 30 or older. Method, fixed in advance: read 49ers.com/team/players-roster on 2026-09-10, count the players listed at position WR on the active roster, and use the age the club's page states for each. Players on injured reserve, the practice squad or any reserve list do not count.

The room on 2026-08-01 lists five receivers at 30 or older by the club's own page: Mike Evans (32), Demarcus Robinson (31), Deebo Samuel Sr. (30), Trenton Irwin (30) and Malik Turner (30). Evans and Samuel are effectively decided, so this call turns on whether a third veteran holds a spot over Jacob Cowing, Jordan Watkins or De'Zhaun Stribling. It is not a formality in either direction: the 49ers spent the 33rd pick and two roster spots on receivers under 26, and the honest case against my own call is that Robinson, Irwin and Turner are all special-teams and depth arguments rather than offensive ones. This grades the piece's thesis, that a room built to answer a durability history with age keeps having to answer it with more age.

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De'Zhaun Stribling, the wide receiver San Francisco took with the 33rd pick in April, was hurt in his first professional game and the 49ers have published nothing about him since. The official participation report has him at 21 offensive snaps of 65, which is 32 percent. Counted against the 26 plays from scrimmage San Francisco ran before the snap he was injured on, it is 21 of 26, or 81 percent. The count reconciles to 65 at the end of the game once the second-quarter roughing-the-passer penalty is included, which is the check on it. He was not targeted on any of the 21. Six 49ers receivers took an offensive snap in Melbourne: Mike Evans 49, Demarcus Robinson 41, Deebo Samuel 27, Stribling 21, Jacob Cowing 5 and KhaDarel Hodge 1. Tight end Luke Farrell played 46, more than every receiver but Evans, and fullback Kyle Juszczyk played 33, more than Samuel. Four of the five other receivers who played are 30 or older. Kyle Shanahan said after the game that the Achilles was checked and intact and that the club was not sure of the magnitude of the ankle injury; further testing waited on the flight home, which David Bonilla of 49ers Webzone clocked at 13 hours 46 minutes, landing at SFO at 3:06 p.m. Friday. San Francisco's next game is Miami at Levi's Stadium on Sunday, September 20, at 1:25 p.m. Pacific, and the 49ers traded down twice in April, first with Miami, to reach the pick they spent on Stribling. No take filed.

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