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Sep 26, 2026
49ers Notebook

Nick Bosa hurt his calf warming up, and four linemen will miss Arizona

Bosa, Romello Height and James Thompson Jr. are out Sunday, and C.J. West is already on injured reserve. Receiver Demarcus Robinson is out too, and Mike Evans is questionable after a limited Friday. The club expects to decide on injured reserve for Bosa on Saturday.

SK
Sam KezarSep 26, 20263 min read
Every call on this site goes on a public ledger and gets graded. The misses stay up.
Nick Bosa in the 49ers' white road jersey and gold helmet chases a Washington ball carrier on a rain-soaked field, with a crowd in rain ponchos behind them. A 2019 photograph from San Francisco's game at Washington, not from this week.

Nick Bosa hurt his calf in individual warmups before Thursday's practice, according to the club's own final injury report, and he is out against Arizona on Sunday. Kyle Shanahan said after Friday's practice that Bosa will miss "a few weeks," per Kyle Madson of Niners Wire. The club says it expects to make its injured-reserve decisions on Saturday.

Bosa had not practiced all week. He was listed Wednesday as resting his knee, and the club added the calf on Thursday, per Nick Wagoner of ESPN. Sunday would have come almost exactly a year after he tore his ACL against the same opponent.

He has played 76 of San Francisco's 120 defensive snaps this season, by the official game books, without a sack.

The final report. Five 49ers carry a game designation. Bosa (knee, calf), Romello Height (hand), James Thompson Jr. (ankle) and Demarcus Robinson (ankle) are out. Mike Evans (hip) is the only one listed as questionable.

The line that played Miami. Nine defensive linemen took snaps in the Week 2 win, by the game book. Four of them will not play Sunday: Bosa, Height, Thompson and C.J. West, who went on injured reserve Wednesday. Those four took 119 of the 251 snaps the nine played. The men left are Osa Odighizuwa, Gracen Halton, Keion White, Ogbo Okoronkwo and Khalid Kareem, plus Naquan Jones, who signed Wednesday. Of those, Wagoner counts three healthy defensive ends: White, Kareem and Okoronkwo.

Injured reserve is a budget. Wagoner reported Friday, citing sources, that the club is leaning against putting Bosa on injured reserve, in part because it is running short of return designations. A club gets eight a season. Shanahan, speaking Wednesday, per Wagoner: "We're going to run out of them eventually, so that's what we're trying to balance out." Robinson and Thompson, both with high-ankle sprains, are the same question. Shanahan put both at three to six weeks on Monday and neither has been moved.

Height did not make it. Shanahan gave him "an outside chance" on Monday, after he broke his hand against Miami. He had surgery this week and did not practice Wednesday, Thursday or Friday.

Evans came back Friday. He missed Wednesday and Thursday with the hip and returned as a limited participant, per the club. The decision comes 90 minutes before the 1:05 p.m. kickoff. With Robinson out, the receivers on the 53 who are certain to be available are Deebo Samuel, Jacob Cowing, KhaDarel Hodge and Jordan Watkins. Watkins has been inactive for both games.

Cooks, from the practice squad. Brandin Cooks signed Wednesday. John Lynch said on KNBR that Cooks had kept in touch for years and grew up a 49ers fan in Stockton: "He kind of stayed in touch over the years," per Niners Wire. Shanahan said Wednesday he plays "as soon as he's ready," per David Bonilla of 49ers Webzone. An elevation for Sunday has not been announced.

Three rested, three cleared. Dre Greenlaw, Christian McCaffrey and Trent Williams took rest days Wednesday, practiced in full Thursday and Friday and carry no designation, per the club.

Next week's help. Mykel Williams, on the physically-unable-to-perform list after last season's torn ACL, is expected back at practice next week, per Wagoner. He cannot play in a game until Week 5 at Seattle.

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More on Mike Evans

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49ers Notebook

Five defensive tackles made the 53, and two are still healthy

San Francisco put defensive tackle C.J. West on injured reserve before Wednesday's practice. He has a bone chip in his knee and needs surgery, and Kyle Shanahan said it is not season-ending. The club signed Naquan Jones to the 53 from Minnesota's practice squad, and signed Brandin Cooks and Viliami Fehoko Jr. to the practice squad. Mike Evans, Demarcus Robinson, James Thompson Jr. and Romello Height did not practice because of injuries. Shanahan said Height is still an outside chance to play Arizona on Sunday.

Sam KezarSep 23, 20263 min read
Five defensive tackles made the 53, and two are still healthy
49ers Roster

The 49ers won by 22 and came out of it needing a receiver and a lineman

Shanahan's Monday conference call produced four injury verdicts. Robinson and Thompson Jr. both have high-ankle sprains at three to six weeks, Robinson most likely to injured reserve. Height broke his hand and has surgery Tuesday, with an outside chance of playing at Arizona. Mike Evans has a hip that will be managed through the week. The receiver room is down to five men on the active roster with three on injured reserve, and the defensive line has now lost three players in two games. Shanahan, asked on Sunday about Leonard Floyd, said the club has already made calls.

Sam KezarSep 21, 20264 min read
The 49ers won by 22 and came out of it needing a receiver and a lineman
The rookie receiver

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.

Sam KezarSep 13, 20264 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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Week 3 Depth Chart

Miami ran 17 of its 19 first-half designed runs between the guards

Two days after the 35-13 win over Miami, the official game books show where opponents are running against San Francisco: 42 of 54 designed runs across two games went up the middle or over a guard, for 4.0 yards a carry. Miami sent 17 of its 19 first-half designed runs inside for 74 yards. Fox analyst Daryl Johnston said on the broadcast that Kyle Shanahan had flagged the between-the-tackles run defense as a concern. James Thompson Jr., who took 42 defensive snaps across the two games, has a high-ankle sprain, and Gracen Halton, who made his first career start Sunday, has out-snapped C.J. West 63 to 49.

Sam KezarSep 22, 20264 min read
Miami ran 17 of its 19 first-half designed runs between the guards
Game Week

San Francisco Has Told You George Kittle Plays. It Has Not Told You How Much Of Him You Get.

San Francisco's Week 1 injury report, read live at 49ers.com and again at therams.com on Thursday morning Pacific, carries eleven San Francisco names and two designations. Alfred Collins, listed at defensive line with a knee, is Out; the club's own item says he tore a patellar tendon and will miss the 2026 season. James Thompson Jr., hamstring, is Questionable after going from did not participate to limited. The other nine, including Nick Bosa, Kyle Juszczyk, Dre Greenlaw and George Kittle, carry no game designation, and Upton Stout is the only full participant on the page. Kittle is limited on every practice day the report carries a value for, with no designation, on an Achilles tendon he tore on January 11. The grid's Monday column is empty on all eighteen rows across both clubs, while the club's own news item describes three Melbourne practices. The Rams' half has filled since Wednesday: Aaron Donald is Out, listed not injury related and resting, and the other six Los Angeles names carry the dash the legend defines as not listed. Kyle Shanahan on Bosa and Kittle: 'We've got to be smart with that.' Kickoff is 5:35 p.m. Pacific at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. One take filed.

Grant LombardSep 10, 20265 min read
San Francisco Has Told You George Kittle Plays. It Has Not Told You How Much Of Him You Get.
49ers Pregame

Aaron Donald Did Not Travel And Myles Garrett Did

San Francisco plays Los Angeles at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Thursday, 5:35 p.m. Pacific, on Netflix. Alfred Collins tore his patellar tendon at the second Melbourne practice and is out for the season, the only San Francisco player on the final Week 1 report carrying a game designation apart from James Thompson Jr., who is questionable with a hamstring. Nick Bosa and George Kittle carry no designation at all. On the Rams sheet Aaron Donald is out and did not travel, and Myles Garrett went from not practising to full participation and plays.

Sam KezarSep 10, 20264 min read
Aaron Donald Did Not Travel And Myles Garrett Did

On the record

Called Shots →
OpenJul 31, 2026

Between the 49ers' first regular-season game and 2026-11-01, Deebo Samuel runs more pass routes from the slot than from out wide. Method, fixed in advance: alignment splits as published for Samuel over that span, slot routes against wide routes, backfield routes excluded from both sides. Ties resolve as FALSE. The comparison is his own two figures, so no league-wide source is needed to score it.

The call is on the ROLE the money implies, not on production. His 2025 usage in Washington was 260 slot routes against 141 out wide and 15 from the backfield, out of 416, at 5.3 average air yards per target across 99 targets, with 67 of those 99 inside ten yards. Niners Nation projects him to the slot with Stribling at Z and Mike Evans at X. A one-year agreement whose value the player's own agent describes as a ceiling is a continuity buy, and a continuity buy uses the player it just watched rather than the one from 2021. If he instead lines up mostly wide, the read in the piece is wrong and the team bought something closer to the older version.

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Week 2 Analysis

Opponents have reached the 49ers' red zone five times and scored one touchdown

Two days after the 35-13 win over Miami, the two game books describe a defense that is hard to finish against and easy to move against. Opponents have gained 5.1 yards a play in both games and reached the San Francisco 20 five times for one touchdown. Miami spent 19:17 on its first three possessions and got six points, twice reaching goal to go and twice kicking. San Francisco's first four sacks of the season came either inside its own red zone or with a lead of 15 or more, and Nick Bosa is credited with none of them, and with no quarterback hit either, on 40 of 59 defensive snaps. PFF's charting of the same game puts him ahead of every other 49er in total pressures.

Sam KezarSep 22, 20266 min read
Opponents have reached the 49ers' red zone five times and scored one touchdown
Draft Regrade

Brock Purdy goes first in a redraft of 2022. That weekend his class was a C+

Draft Regrade, a standing page at /49ers/draft-regrade/, grades all 53 San Francisco draft picks from 2021 to 2026: every one for the process on draft weekend, from sources dated no later than the Monday after, and every one but this year's eight for the result at the end of every season, as a letter computed from playing time, position pay, public honors and the pick's slot. The six process grades, written September 22: 2026 B, 2025 C-, 2024 B-, 2023 C, 2022 C+, 2021 B-. The result letters say something else: the 2022 class has ranked 2nd and then 3rd of 32 on Brock Purdy alone, who goes first of 261 in a redraft, and the 2025 class sits 32nd of 32 after one season with its first-round pick at F.

Sam KezarSep 22, 20268 min read
Brock Purdy goes first in a redraft of 2022. That weekend his class was a C+
49ers Takeaways

Week 2 takeaways: five touchdowns before San Francisco's first punt

San Francisco is 2-0 after a 35-13 win over Miami in the home opener. The 49ers scored touchdowns on their first five drives and did not punt until 10:38 of the fourth quarter. Purdy was 20 of 22 for 287 yards and two touchdowns with a 149.1 rating and no sack taken. The defense recorded four sacks after none in Week 1, from Marques Sigle, Keion White, Romello Height and a Warner-Stout split, none from Bosa. Miami had first and goal twice and came away with six points. Eddy Piñeiro, the kicker the week was spent on, attempted no field goal.

Sam KezarSep 21, 20265 min read
Week 2 takeaways: five touchdowns before San Francisco's first punt

Earlier on the 49ers

Game Week

Nobody San Francisco Added Thursday Plays Defensive Tackle

San Francisco placed DL Alfred Collins on injured reserve and activated WR KhaDarel Hodge and DL Ogbo Okoronkwo from its practice squad as standard elevations, all three moves in one release published at 1:53 p.m. Pacific on Thursday, three hours and forty-two minutes before the season opener against the Los Angeles Rams at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Hodge and Okoronkwo revert to the practice squad after the game, and a standard elevation is capped at three per player per season. Neither plays defensive tackle. The club's depth chart, stamped September 8 and labelled unofficial, lists four men at the two tackle spots: Osa Odighizuwa at 280 pounds and C.J. West at 316 on the left, Collins and then rookies Gracen Halton at 293 and James Thompson Jr. at 308 on the right. Thompson was Questionable with a hamstring, the only game designation San Francisco issued for the opener. The inactive lists resolved it: six San Francisco names, none of them a defensive lineman, and Thompson dresses. That leaves right defensive tackle to two rookies. The report the club distributed at 12:23 a.m. Pacific has Halton at full participation for the last Melbourne practice; the table on the club's own injury-report page, read at 2:51 p.m., still showed him limited and left his injury column blank. The practice squad holds three defensive linemen heavier than Okoronkwo's 253 pounds, including Kevin Givens, the man the club waived on August 5 to sign Hodge and Okoronkwo. Counted in a browser at 2:53 p.m. Pacific, the roster page carried 54 on Active, 12 on injured reserve, two on Reserve/Physically Unable to Perform and 15 on the practice squad, which puts 52 players on a roster that may hold 53. The Active table held eight defensive linemen. The transaction log still ended on September 5. One take filed.

Sam KezarSep 10, 20264 min read
Nobody San Francisco Added Thursday Plays Defensive Tackle
Called Shots

Jalen Stroman Played Every Defensive Snap And More Special Teams Than Anybody

Six calls on San Francisco's initial 53-man roster, due Sunday at 3 p.m. Pacific. In: Jalen Stroman, who played all 66 defensive snaps and 21 on special teams against the Raiders, the most of any 49er; Nate Hobbs; and Jacob Cowing, already on the ledger since August 23. Out: Jordan Watkins, who played 53 of 61 offensive snaps and touched the ball nine ways; Ashtyn Davis; and Ogbo Okoronkwo, already on the ledger since August 5. Every call scores off the club's announced initial 53 and nothing else. A man placed on injured reserve from that list counts as having made it.

Sam KezarAug 29, 20266 min read
Jalen Stroman Played Every Defensive Snap And More Special Teams Than Anybody
Camp Notebook

The Edge Room Lost Three Bodies While The New Receiver Took Ten Snaps

Saturday's notebook: the transaction that opened the roster spot, a ten-snap ramp for the receiver who filled it, a fourth receiver injury in five days, and an edge rotation that lost three bodies in one session.

Sam KezarAug 1, 20263 min read
The Edge Room Lost Three Bodies While The New Receiver Took Ten Snaps