San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan spoke about the 53-man roster on Wednesday afternoon. Let’s discuss the injury updates and signings.
John Lynch said wide receiver Russell Gage will be on the 53-man roster and on the practice field Wednesday afternoon. Gage will join Ricky Pearsall and Skyy Moore.
Shanahan said he’s “optimistic” that starters Ben Bartch and Dominick Puni will return by Week 1:
“We’re hoping so. I guess I would say that would be trending in the right direction. We won’t know that until next week. We got Bartch back out on Monday’s practice. So we’re on course for that. And hoping to get Puni out sometime next week, if not Monday, hopefully Wednesday. But he’s looking good in his rehab, and it’s looking positive so far.”
The 49ers kept Drew Moss, Connor Colby, and Matt Hennessy as the backups along the interior.
Edge rusher Yetur Gross-Matos is “possible” for Week 1. Here’s what Shanahan said:
We expect him to get out there and start practicing next week. We’ve been working him out like he’s going to play Week 1. Hopefully that’ll continue and he’ll be out there on Sunday.
The depth at edge rusher consists of Nick Bosa, Mykel Williams, Bryce Huff, Sam Okuayinonu, and Robert Beal. Williams will bounce back and forth from defensive end to defensive tackle. Gross-Matos’s health is more important than fans realize, given the presence of all the rookies on the defensive line.
Lynch spoke about the current state of the 49ers’ defensive line:
There’s a lot of change to it, but we like the group. I think they’ve all gotten better throughout camp. Bosa’s Bosa. He’s gonna be Bosa. Mykel started off really good. Had a great offseason. Then got nicked in training camp, as did C.J. West. They’ve both done a nice job.
Alfred Collins, we’re really happy and proud of the efforts he’s put forth. He’s really improving as he’s getting his legs underneath him.
Sam O, making great contributions. Bryce Huff has really shown his value to us. I think when you throw it all together, Beal in that group as well, as you throw that whole group together, there’s a lot to like.
We did claim a guy from Jacksonville, Jordan Jefferson, today. We felt like that was an opportunity to upgrade our group. A guy we’ve liked way back to his college days at LSU. When you put the whole group together, there’s versatility, guys who can rush outside and rush inside. It’ll be a fun group to work with.
Shanahan feels that undrafted free agent Sebastian Valdez and every member of the practice squad are part of the team. Valdez didn’t make the 53-man roster due to a numbers game:
Sometimes we go with four guys inside. Sometimes with five. We usually go nine as a group. We went 11, and finding out we can get another from another roster. We’re glad that he’s still here on our practice squad. You always take a risk of losing those guys. But there’s no difference to me between our 53 and the 16 guys on our practice squad. Sebastian’s a part of our team. I’m glad we didn’t lose him. There’s probably going to come a time when we need him.
The 49ers are signing former New York Jets quarterback Adrian Martinez to the practice squad. Lynch said Martinez is en route to the Bay Area. Martinez can mimic the three mobile quarterbacks the Niners play in the first three games: Sam Darnold, Spencer Rattler, and Kyler Murray.
On the same subject, Shanahan shared the status of rookie seventh-rounder Kurtis Rourke:
He gets three weeks once he gets back. So we’ll decide on that. I don’t expect it anytime real soon. But as I said last time, around Week 6 or something. Sometime in that area, we’ll have three weeks to decide. It’s always tough when a guy doesn’t get any offseason work to throw him into three weeks of harder practices to make a decision. He’s worked as hard as anyone can at the position he’s in, just what on we’ve seen him do out there in the morning, with how attentive he is in the meetings and stuff. He’ll give himself a chance during those three weeks. And if not, he’ll get a redshirt year.
Upton Stout will return to practice today. It’ll be the first time since August 7. Stout had a promising start to training camp. Stout may have lost his job, if only temporarily, to Chase Lucas with the way he’s played in August. It’ll be interesting to see how that competition plays out ahead of Week 1.
Rookie running back Jordan James, who has been out with a broken finger, also returned to practice on Wednesday.
