The 49ers’ trip to Melbourne delivered a win in Week 1, but it also left Kyle Shanahan’s offense taking on water.
Jake Tonges is done for the season after suffering a severe MCL injury that required knee surgery, a blow Shanahan confirmed after San Francisco’s victory over the Los Angeles Rams. The injury adds to an already stretched tight end room, with George Kittle still in the middle of his Achilles recovery. It also comes alongside rookie wide receiver De'Zhaun Stribling’s 10-week ankle surgery, leaving the 49ers scrambling to keep enough bodies available for the Week 2 home opener against the Miami Dolphins.
San Francisco responded by bringing in five free agents for workouts, a group that included three tight ends and two veteran defensive tackles after the injury to DT Alfred Collins. The tight end options on the table were Jack Stoll, Tanner Conner and Lawrence Cager.
Stoll, listed at 6’4”, 247 lbs, came in as the most seasoned blocker of the bunch. He has 32 career starts across his time with the Philadelphia Eagles from 2021-2024 and the New Orleans Saints, where he started four games last season and caught six passes for 46 yards.
Conner, a 2022 undrafted free agent, spent his rookie contract with the Miami Dolphins and is coming off a 2025 season in which he posted nine receptions for 91 yards. Cager, a 6’5”, 220-pound converted wide receiver, has had stints with the Jets and Giants and has not appeared in a regular season game since 2022, when he caught 13 passes for 118 yards.
The defensive tackle group San Francisco looked at included Larry Ogunjobi, a 32-year-old veteran who has started throughout the league and most recently recorded five tackles for loss with the Buffalo Bills in 2025, and Daniel Ekuale, a seven-year veteran who started 16 games for the New England Patriots in 2024 before spending 2025 with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
In the end, the choice was the expected one. The 49ers signed the 28-year-old Stoll to their practice squad, giving them a veteran blocking presence who can be elevated on gamedays as needed.
In Other News...
Kaepernick Just Reopened A 49ers Era Story Fans Will Remember
Colin Kaepernick is back in the conversation with a new memoir, The Perilous Fight, and the book has already started to reopen one of the most familiar chapters from his 49ers years. Released Sept. 15, the memoir leans into personal stories and reflection, including an anecdote about Taylor Swift and his adoptive mother, while also giving Kaepernick another platform to revisit the larger arc of his career and the fight that followed it.
On a podcast interview the next day, Kaepernick shifted from memoir mode to sharper criticism, taking aim at Patriots owner Robert Kraft over the removal of rapper Macklemore from Ed Sheerans tour. He used the moment to argue that NFL owners work together to protect their interests, while also revisiting his grievance against the league and how his view of owner cooperation has evolved. For 49ers fans, it is another reminder that Kaepernicks story remains as much about the leagues power structure as it is about the quarterback who once defined an era in San Francisco. [Read more 🡒]
49ers Avoid One Levi's Stadium Wrinkle Against The Dolphins
Week 2 brings a more comfortable setup for the 49ers at Levis Stadium, where theyll host the Dolphins under conditions that look far kinder than some of the early-season home games San Francisco has endured in recent years. Forecasts for kickoff call for 72 degrees, clear skies and light winds, the kind of afternoon that should let football, not the weather, drive the conversation.
For a team that has had to manage excessive heat in past daytime games at home, that matters more than it might seem on paper. The Dolphins arrive as a dangerous early test, but the 49ers at least appear set to avoid one of the more annoying variables that can turn a September game in Santa Clara into something closer to a survival exercise. [Read more 🡒]
Fred Warner Said What 49ers Fans Were Feeling About Dre Greenlaw
The 49ers defense wasted no time reminding the rest of the NFC why it still draws so much attention in Santa Clara. In Week 1 against the Rams, San Francisco held Los Angeles under 10 points, and the middle of that effort looked familiar again with Fred Warner and Dre Greenlaw back side by side on the field. Warner led the way with 11 tackles, while Greenlaw added six in his return after spending a year with the Denver Broncos.
For 49ers fans, the reunion carried a little extra weight because it brought back a pairing that has long been tied to the identity of this defense. Warner sounded as energized as the crowd felt about seeing Greenlaw back in the mix, and the early result suggested the comfort level between the two has not gone anywhere. The bigger question now is how quickly that revived linebacker duo can help San Francisco settle in as the season unfolds. [Read more 🡒]