Game Week

Shanahan has lost six of his ten defensive linemen. Arizona gets the rest.

Kickoff is 1:05 p.m. Pacific at Levi's Stadium on FOX. Nick Bosa, Romello Height and James Thompson Jr. are out, and two of the nine defensive linemen in line to dress have never played in an NFL game. Brock Purdy has not been sacked this season, and Arizona brings Josh Sweat and Walter Nolen.

SK
Sam KezarSep 27, 20264 min read
Every call on this site goes on a public ledger and gets graded. The misses stay up.
Gracen Halton, No. 93, stands smiling on the 49ers practice field in a white practice jersey over a red long-sleeve shirt, with teammates stretching on the grass behind him. A photograph from the club's spring practices, not from this week.

San Francisco plays Arizona at Levi's Stadium on Sunday at 1:05 p.m. Pacific, on FOX, with the radio call on KSFO 810 AM and KSAN 107.7 FM. The 49ers are 2-0 after beating the Rams 27-7 in Melbourne and Miami 35-13 at home. The Cardinals are 1-1: they won 26-14 at the Chargers in Week 1 and lost 31-7 to Seattle last Sunday.

Kyle Shanahan put the week in one sentence after Friday's practice. "Losing six out of the 10 D-Linemen in the last two weeks that have made our team is a little unusual," he said, per the club's transcript. "I don't think I've been a part of that."

The line that plays Arizona#

Four of the nine defensive linemen who took snaps against Miami will not play Sunday. Bosa hurt his calf in his own warmup before Thursday's walk-through. Height broke his hand against Miami and had surgery. Thompson has a high-ankle sprain. West went on injured reserve Wednesday. By the Week 2 game book, those four took 119 of the 251 snaps the nine linemen played.

The club kept Bosa off injured reserve on Saturday and put receiver Demarcus Robinson there instead. It promoted Viliami Fehoko Jr. from the practice squad to the 53 and elevated Kevin Givens and Sebastian Valdez for the game. Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area expects all three to play in a nine-man rotation: Osa Odighizuwa, Gracen Halton, Keion White, Ogbo Okoronkwo, Khalid Kareem, Naquan Jones, Fehoko, Givens and Valdez. The club's newsroom carries no further move after Saturday's release.

Raheem Morris, the defensive coordinator, was asked Thursday whether Halton can line up beside Odighizuwa in a four-man front. The rookie from Oklahoma can play nose or three technique, Morris said: "He can multitask."

The other side of the ball#

Purdy has not been sacked in two games. The Week 2 game book has him 20 of 22 for 287 yards with no sacks taken, and ESPN's Week 1 team statistics show none against the Rams either.

Klay Kubiak, the offensive coordinator, spent part of Thursday on Arizona's interior. "Five-down looks where they're getting us into five-0s and they're making everyone block one-on-one, it's a challenge," he said. He named Sweat, "a really good pass rusher," and Nolen: "Nolen's jumping out."

Mike Evans is questionable with a hip. He missed Wednesday and Thursday and returned as a limited participant Friday, per the club. With Robinson on injured reserve, the 53 carries five receivers: Evans, Deebo Samuel, KhaDarel Hodge, Jacob Cowing and Jordan Watkins. Brandin Cooks, signed to the practice squad Wednesday, was not elevated.

Arizona#

Jacoby Brissett threw for 277 yards at the Chargers and 95 against Seattle, per ESPN. Trey McBride led the Cardinals in receiving yards both weeks. Morris on him: "He's awesome."

Arizona put cornerback Will Johnson on injured reserve this week with a neck injury that may cost him the season, per Arizona Sports. Garrett Williams, who tore his Achilles last December, practiced in full Friday for the first time this season and carries no designation. Safety Dadrion Taylor-Demerson is out. Defensive lineman Roy Lopez and cornerback Max Melton are questionable.

Ten to watch#

Bosa goes on the inactive list rather than injured reserve, so the club has not used one of its return designations on him. Shanahan, Friday, on Bosa and the other linemen in the same boat: "Because of the number we have on it, we won't be able to do all of them."

Sources: 49ers.com schedule, injury report and roster-move release; ESPN schedules and team statistics; the official NFL game book for Miami at San Francisco, Week 2; Kyle Shanahan, Raheem Morris and Klay Kubiak transcripts, via 49ers Webzone; Matt Maiocco, NBC Sports Bay Area; Nick Wagoner, ESPN; Arizona Sports.

Filed under 49ers

More on Mike Evans

His page →
49ers Notebook

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

Nick Bosa hurt his calf in individual warmups before Thursday's practice and is out against Arizona. Kyle Shanahan said he will miss a few weeks. Romello Height, James Thompson Jr. and Demarcus Robinson are also out, and Mike Evans is questionable after practicing on a limited basis Friday. With C.J. West on injured reserve, four of the nine defensive linemen who played against Miami will not play Sunday. The club expects to make its injured-reserve decisions on Saturday.

Sam KezarSep 26, 20263 min read
Nick Bosa hurt his calf warming up, and four linemen will miss Arizona
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

More on Jordan James

His page →
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.

Latest on the 49ers

The whole beat →
49ers Notebook

The 49ers kept Bosa off injured reserve and put Demarcus Robinson there instead

The 49ers kept Nick Bosa on the 53-man roster on Saturday and placed receiver Demarcus Robinson on injured reserve. Defensive lineman Viliami Fehoko Jr. was promoted from the practice squad into Robinson's spot, and defensive linemen Kevin Givens and Sebastian Valdez were elevated for Sunday's game against Arizona. Matt Judon was among four free agents who worked out for the club. Brandin Cooks was not elevated, and Jordan Watkins is expected to make his season debut.

Sam KezarSep 26, 20263 min read
The 49ers kept Bosa off injured reserve and put Demarcus Robinson there instead
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+

Earlier on the 49ers

49ers Roster

San Francisco Promoted A Fourth Tight End And Worked Out Three More

San Francisco promoted tight end Brayden Willis from the practice squad to the active roster on Tuesday morning and signed defensive lineman McKinnley Jackson to the practice squad. The promotion fills the roster spot Alfred Collins vacated on September 10 and puts the active roster back at 53. Hours later the NFL's transaction report showed the club had worked out five players, three of them tight ends. Jake Tonges, who played eight snaps in Melbourne before he was hurt, remains on the active roster with no injury designation and no published imaging result, and the club's Week 2 injury report does not exist yet. Willis has played 23 regular-season games, all with the 49ers, and has no career receptions.

Sam KezarSep 15, 20264 min read
San Francisco Promoted A Fourth Tight End And Worked Out Three More
Roster

Nate Hobbs Made The 53 On Sunday And Went On Injured Reserve On Monday

The 49ers placed cornerback Nate Hobbs and linebacker Nick Martin on injured reserve Monday and re-signed safety Ashtyn Davis and punter Corliss Waitman to one-year deals. Because Hobbs and Martin were placed the day after the initial roster was set rather than during the cut to it, neither needed one of the two return designations San Francisco had already spent on Christian Kirk and Austen Pleasants, and neither is finished for the year. Both must miss at least the first four games. The earliest either can play is October 11 at Seattle. Matt Maiocco wrote on Sunday that both placements were coming Monday. San Francisco claimed nobody on waivers and lost cornerback Darrell Luter Jr. to Las Vegas and defensive lineman Bryson Eason to Kansas City. Thirteen players are on the practice squad, including long snapper Jon Weeks, who is not on the active roster.

Sam KezarAug 31, 20265 min read
Nate Hobbs Made The 53 On Sunday And Went On Injured Reserve On Monday
49ers

A Third-Round Rookie Has The First-Team Edge Reps Opposite Keion White

Romello Height has been working with the first-string defense opposite Keion White while Mykel Williams sits on PUP and Nick Bosa is held back. Height was drafted in the third round to replace a pass rusher who retired in March. White arrived from New England nine months ago for a reported sixth-round pick. Between them they have taken every first-team edge rep of this camp, and neither was supposed to.

Sam KezarJul 28, 20265 min read
A Third-Round Rookie Has The First-Team Edge Reps Opposite Keion White