The San Francisco 49ers have their 53-man roster set for now, but the real work is still happening behind the scenes. With Jon Weeks and Corliss Waitman temporarily out of the picture, the team still has a handful of moves to sort through, and the biggest question hanging over all of it is which injured players might end up on injured reserve.
There are plenty of names in the mix. The 49ers can designate up to eight players to return during the regular season, and two of those spots are already spoken for by Christian Kirk and Austen Pleasants. That leaves the rest of the injury puzzle very much in play.
At linebacker, Luke Gifford and Nick Martin are both dealing with hamstring injuries. Martin’s came in the second preseason game, while Gifford suffered his early in training camp. With the 49ers keeping seven linebackers, it feels like at least one of those two could wind up on IR.
The secondary brings its own alarm bells. Renardo Green and Malik Mustapha were both in line to start before hamstring injuries slowed them down.
Green got hurt in the second preseason game, while Mustapha has been sidelined since the end of July. The team hasn’t said much about either situation, and with both spots carrying so much weight in Raheem Morris’s defense, that’s a tough setup if either player misses time.
Kyle Shanahan also identified Vederian Lowe as an IR candidate along with Kirk. Lowe has been out for a month with a high-ankle sprain. If he lands on IR, rookie Enrqiue Cruz would become the swing tackle unless the team shuffles things around enough to keep the rookie off the field.
There’s also Romello Height, who has dealt with two ankle injuries in the past month. The rookie could return to practice on Monday, but he sat out the preseason finale, which leaves open the possibility that this becomes a longer-term issue.
And the list doesn’t stop there. Rookie Ephesians Prysock is dealing with a shoulder injury, while Nate Hobbs has a groin issue, and either one could easily enter the IR conversation.
So who would be the worst-case loss?
Renardo Green is the obvious answer. He’s the closest thing the 49ers have to a matchup cornerback, and that matters.
Height would sting too, because the edge-rushing depth is already thin, even with the hope that Nick Bosa is ready for Week 1 - a risky assumption given the expectation that he won’t play 80% of the snaps.
But Malik Mustapha is the one that really changes the equation. Behind him, the options are Ji’Ayir Brown and Marques Sigle, and that’s about it.
Siran Neal’s only defensive preseason snaps came at cornerback. Upton Stout could probably handle safety in a pinch, but that would force Deommodore Lenoir inside and push Jack Jones outside, which is not a move most fans would be eager to see.
That’s why Mustapha stands out. The depth chart at safety is shaky enough that one injury can force a domino effect across the defense.
Mustapha may not be a locked-in starter, but he has the strongest NFL sample of the group - and as a rookie, he was quite good. He also brings the highest ceiling of the three safeties.
In a defense full of moving parts, Mustapha is one of the biggest wild cards. If he’s not available early in the season, it would be a real hit to what the 49ers can do on that side of the ball.
In Other News...
49ers Defensive Front Just Lost A Rookie They Were Counting On
Mykel Williams rookie year is starting with an unexpected pause after the 49ers placed the defensive lineman on the Reserve/Physically Unable to Perform List, pushing back his debut by at least the first four games. The first-round pick from the 2025 NFL Draft had been part of the plan for a front that expected to lean on its young pass rush talent, but an ACL injury has changed the opening stretch and ensured he will not be on the field for the season opener.
San Francisco has already set its 53-man roster, and the edge-rusher group will have to carry the load without him for now, with Sam Okuayinou, Keion White and Romello Height among the names on the list. The early absence matters because Williams was supposed to help line up next to Nick Bosa, and now the 49ers will have to find out how much pressure they can generate before their rookie defender is eligible to return. [Read more 🡒]
49ers Just Lost A Defender They Wanted To Keep
The 49ers roster churn is still rolling as teams around the league sort through waiver claims and the next round of practice-squad and injured reserve moves. San Francisco had been trying to keep its depth intact, but the early action already trimmed away some familiar names, with the Raiders grabbing Darrell Luter, the Chiefs taking Bryson Eason, and the Colts landing Kapena Gushiken.
There is still more movement to come before the day is done, and that is where the 49ers will get their next look at how the back end of the roster settles. Christian Jones and Isaiah Foskey were also part of the broader conversation around roster decisions and development, which is exactly why these post-cutdown hours can matter so much for a team trying to preserve young talent wherever it can. [Read more 🡒]
49ers Just Got A Harsh Early Reality Check In The NFC West
The NFC West already looked unforgiving for San Francisco, and now the early path has gotten even steeper. Reports that Aaron Donald is coming out of retirement to return to the Los Angeles Rams only add to a roster that already carried plenty of defensive bite, and the comparison between the two teams has tilted further toward Los Angeles on both sides of the ball. For a 49ers team trying to navigate a division that rarely offers much breathing room, it is the kind of development that forces an immediate reset of expectations.
The timing makes it even tougher to ignore because the 49ers are set to see the Rams first in Melbourne, Australia, a stage that will amplify whatever edge Los Angeles believes it has. San Francisco can still make its own case over the course of the season, but the matchup in front of it now looks like more than just an opener. It feels like an early test of whether the 49ers can keep pace in a division where the margin for error may already be shrinking. [Read more 🡒]