49ers Notebook

Juszczyk practiced in full, and Lynch says there is a chance he plays Monday

Kyle Juszczyk was a full participant on Friday and Christian Kirk was limited. Nick Bosa and Mike Evans did not practice, and John Lynch said the trade calls have picked up.

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Sam KezarOct 16, 20263 min read
Every call on this site goes on a public ledger and gets graded. The misses stay up.
Kyle Juszczyk, in the 49ers' red home jersey and gold pants, points downfield after a run against Denver at Levi's Stadium, two Broncos defenders standing nearby.

Kyle Juszczyk was a full participant in practice on Friday, his second straight day back, according to the participation report the 49ers distributed. He hyperextended his knee and bruised the bone against Denver on Oct. 4, missed the Seattle game, and was first expected to miss two to three weeks, Dylan Grausz of NBC Sports Bay Area wrote. Monday is day 15.

Lynch on Juszczyk. "There is a chance," John Lynch said on KNBR on Friday morning, as transcribed by David Bonilla of 49ers Webzone and Grausz. "Juice is so tough. Again, beating timelines." He added a condition: "He's got to continue to string practices along."

Kirk, day two. Christian Kirk was limited Friday with the calf, a day after the club opened his 21-day window off injured reserve. "We'll see if he is activated this week," Lynch said. "I think another good day of practice, another couple more good days." The 53 is full, with Dre Greenlaw's suspension already counted, so activating Kirk means a corresponding move. The club has made none since Thursday's release, by its transaction page and the league wire, both read at 3 p.m. Friday.

Bosa did not practice. Lynch said Friday morning that Nick Bosa is "making really good progress" with the calf, and that the club would "see if he can get out here today. The extra day helps us." He did not. The report lists him with a knee as well as the calf. Bosa has missed three games.

The rest of the list. Mike Evans (ribs, Achilles), Gracen Halton (quadriceps), Deebo Samuel (hamstring), Marques Sigle (ankle) and Garret Wallow (hamstring) did not practice. Evans, Halton and Wallow worked on the side, Cam Inman of the Mercury News reported. Romello Height (hand, illness) did not practice either, a day after he was a full participant; a stomach illness is going through the locker room, 49ers Webzone reported. Colton McKivitz (illness) was limited.

Receivers, by the count. With Deebo Samuel out "for a few weeks" with the hamstring, as Jennifer Lee Chan of NBC Sports Bay Area wrote Thursday, and Evans held out two days running, the healthy receivers on the 53 are Brandin Cooks, Jacob Cowing and Jordan Watkins. Watkins has two catches on two targets this season, both in Week 3. "He's blocked well, he's ran good routes, he's gotten open," Kyle Shanahan said Thursday, per Chan. "We've been really happy with how he's stepped up in these few games."

Greenlaw, one more time. Lynch said he told the league he did not like how Seattle players surrounded Greenlaw on their sideline, and that the suspension stands anyway. "We don't have to like it, but it is what it is," he said. "He's only gone for this week."

The phone is busier. Asked whether the trade calls have picked up, Lynch said yes, "just because the flow of the trade deadline is approaching." Asked about Khalil Mack, who has three sacks for an 0-5 Chargers team, Lynch said "I can't tell you that," and then said a player had asked him the same thing. It was George Kittle. "It's usually Kittle because he asks about everything, which I love," Lynch said, per Bonilla. Kittle confirmed it after practice. "I just like to chirp him and ask what he's interested in, see if he'll give me anything," he said. Juszczyk and Trent Williams do it too, he said, and "I think he tells Trent the most, not me." The deadline is Tuesday, Nov. 10, at 1 p.m., Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area reported.

Washington's Friday. Terry McLaurin (hamstring, rest), Marcus Mariota (knee) and Jacory Croskey-Merritt (groin) did not practice, per the same report. Stefon Diggs (hamstring) was limited. Jayden Daniels was a full participant with a left elbow listed.

Next. The 49ers practice again Saturday. Washington plays at Levi's Stadium on Monday night.

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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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