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October 1, 2026
49ers Notebook

Brandin Cooks needed eight days on the 49ers' practice squad to reach the 53

San Francisco released KhaDarel Hodge, who has a knee injury, to make the room, with Mike Evans still off the practice field three days before Denver.

SK
Sam KezarOct 1, 20263 min read
Every call on this site goes on a public ledger and gets graded. The misses stay up.
Deebo Samuel, smiling, runs through a tunnel of teammates during pregame introductions at Levi's Stadium in 2021, with the stands full behind him.

San Francisco put Brandin Cooks on the 53 on Thursday. The club promoted him from the practice squad and released KhaDarel Hodge to make the room, per its release. It also signed Malik Turner to the practice squad. Hodge had missed Wednesday and Thursday with a knee injury. 49ers Webzone describes the release as an injury settlement; the club's release says only that he was released.

What Cooks brings. The release gives him 173 games, 149 starts and 734 catches for 9,811 yards across 13 seasons with six clubs. He is 32 and from Stockton. He signed to the practice squad on September 23 and was not elevated for Arizona, per Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area. Kyle Shanahan said that week he would play "as soon as he's ready," per David Bonilla of 49ers Webzone. Offensive coordinator Klay Kubiak on Thursday called it "a tough position to play in our offense," and said Cooks's years around the league are "what gives us confidence that he's ready to be elevated and ready to help us," per 49ers Webzone. Brock Purdy's read: "He's quick, he looks great, he looks fresh."

The room for Denver. Five receivers are on the 53: Cooks, Jacob Cowing, Mike Evans, Deebo Samuel Sr. and Jordan Watkins, on the club's roster page. Evans is the one who is hurt. Hodge leaves with three games and one catch for 18 yards this season, per the release.

Evans sat again. He did not practice for a second day, with the rib injury from Sunday's win over Arizona, per the club's Thursday report as carried by Bonilla. He worked on the side and played catch, gingerly, with Samuel, per the same report. John Lynch on the timeline: "It's still Thursday, and a couple more days before we kick off." Shanahan's line from Monday stands: "It shouldn't be long-term."

Trent Williams is back. He was limited on Thursday after the neck stinger he took against Arizona, per Bonilla. Lynch, before practice: "we're hoping to get Trent back out today at practice, and we'll see where it goes from there." Christian McCaffrey returned in full after Wednesday's rest day.

Still out. Nick Bosa (knee, calf), Dre Greenlaw (quadriceps), Hodge (knee), James Thompson Jr. (ankle) and Keion White (hamstring) did not practice, per the report. Greenlaw and White worked on the side. Romello Height (hand) and Mykel Williams (knee) were limited again. Williams cannot play before Week 5 at Seattle.

Turner, again. He spent part of 2025 on the practice squad and played three games for the club, per the release, which also has the club releasing him on August 30. He is the fourth receiver on the squad, with Wesley Grimes, Will Pauling and Dante Pettis, who signed Wednesday. Cooks off and Turner on leaves the squad at 18, with Vincent Anthony Jr. still listed two days after Bonilla reported his release.

Purdy's September. The NFL named Purdy NFC Offensive Player of the Month, per 49ers Webzone. Across three games he completed 72.3 percent for 789 yards, nine touchdowns and one interception, a 133.1 rating that leads the league. It is his first monthly award. The other 49ers quarterbacks to win one are Steve Young, Joe Montana and Jeff Garcia, per the same report.

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San Francisco acquired wide receiver Keenan Allen from Indianapolis on Tuesday, deadline day, for a 2027 sixth-round pick, the league transaction wire shows. It is the second trade between the clubs in three weeks, after DeForest Buckner on Oct. 27. Allen, 34, played at Cal and is a six-time Pro Bowler with 1,095 career catches, eighth all time. He had 40 catches for 351 yards and one touchdown in eight games for the Colts, their team lead. The club placed Gracen Halton on injured reserve with a fractured ankle the same afternoon, and its roster page showed 52 on the active roster before Allen was added. Allen joins a receiver room missing Mike Evans and Deebo Samuel Sr. last Sunday. He caught four passes for 26 yards against Dallas in Week 9, and the 49ers play at Dallas on Sunday.

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On the record

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MissedJul 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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