49ers Notebook

Bosa will miss Denver, and the 49ers signed Matt Judon to the practice squad

Kyle Shanahan called Mike Evans's rib injury not long-term and said Trent Williams should be ready by Thursday. Nick Bosa and James Thompson Jr. are out against the Broncos, and Romello Height is expected back at practice.

SK
Sam KezarSep 28, 20263 min read
Every call on this site goes on a public ledger and gets graded. The misses stay up.
Nick Bosa, bare-headed in a white 49ers road jersey, hand over his heart during the anthem in the rain at Washington in October 2019, with team staff in red jackets beside him. A 2019 photograph, not from this week.

The 49ers signed Matt Judon to their practice squad on Monday. The club announced it at 1:15 p.m. The same morning, Kyle Shanahan ruled Nick Bosa out for Sunday against Denver.

Judon, and what he is now. He is 34, with 72.0 career sacks and four Pro Bowl selections, for the 2019 through 2022 seasons. The recent line is thinner. He played 13 games for Miami last season without a sack, per ESPN's season log, and he has 9.5 sacks since the start of 2023. He was one of four free agents who worked out for the club on Saturday, on the NFL's transaction report as carried by Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk. He spent 2024 in Atlanta under Raheem Morris, who is now the 49ers' defensive coordinator. Jeremy Fowler of ESPN reports he has "an early chance for elevation."

Nobody left to make room. The practice squad was at 16 after Viliami Fehoko Jr. was promoted on Saturday. Judon makes 17, the maximum with Isaac Alarcón's international exemption. The club's release, its transaction log and its roster page all carry him as of Monday afternoon.

Bosa and Thompson are out. Shanahan said on his Monday conference call that neither will be available against the Broncos, per Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area. Bosa hurt his calf before last Thursday's walk-through and has now missed one game. Thompson has the high-ankle sprain from Week 2. Both stay on the 53.

Evans: "It shouldn't be long term." Shanahan said the receiver has "a rib issue" and will be evaluated through the week, per David Bonilla of 49ers Webzone and Maiocco, whose quotes match. On Sunday he had said he could not tell whether it was a broken rib or an oblique. Monday's answer did not settle whether Evans plays Sunday.

Trent Williams should be ready. "Trent Williams, stinger and neck, should be good to go by Thursday," Shanahan said, per Bonilla. Williams played 32 of 54 offensive snaps against Arizona before Vederian Lowe finished the game at left tackle.

Greenlaw is managed. Dre Greenlaw's quad contusion will be handled through the week, per Bonilla. He came back for one play on Sunday and then came out, per Nick Wagoner of ESPN.

Height is expected back at practice. The rookie had hand surgery after Week 2 and missed Arizona. Maiocco and Bonilla both have him expected back this week.

Mykel Williams's window opens. The club will open his practice window from Reserve/PUP this week, per Maiocco and Bonilla. He is recovering from a torn ACL and cannot play until Week 5 at Seattle.

The line count for Denver. The 53 carries ten defensive linemen. Take out Bosa and Thompson, count Height as back, and eight are left by Monday's word: Osa Odighizuwa, Gracen Halton, Keion White, Ogbo Okoronkwo, Khalid Kareem, Naquan Jones, Fehoko and Height. San Francisco dressed nine against Arizona. Judon, Kevin Givens and Sebastian Valdez are the practice-squad men who could make it nine again.

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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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