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The 49ers won by 22 and came out of it needing a receiver and a lineman

Kyle Shanahan confirmed high-ankle sprains for Demarcus Robinson and James Thompson Jr. on Monday, three to six weeks each, and said Robinson is most likely headed for injured reserve. Romello Height has surgery on a broken hand Tuesday. San Francisco is 2-0, and five days after the head coach said the club did not need to add a receiver, the receiver room has lost the man who played the second-most snaps in it.

SK
Sam KezarSep 21, 20264 min read
Every call on this site goes on a public ledger and gets graded. The misses stay up.
Romello Height in a white 49ers practice jersey with red numerals and a gold guardian cap over his helmet, coming off the line with both gloved hands raised, at the team's Santa Clara practice field. A club gallery photograph from training camp, not from Sunday's game.

Kyle Shanahan took a conference call on Monday, a day after San Francisco beat Miami 35-13, and gave four verdicts. Two of them cost the 49ers a player apiece for at least three weeks.

Demarcus Robinson has a high-ankle sprain. "Any time it's a high ankle, we don't have a timeline, but high ankles in general are anywhere from three weeks at the best, which is very rare, to six weeks," Shanahan said. "So, we'll see how it goes, but most likely he'll be an IR candidate here." James Thompson Jr., the rookie defensive tackle who walked to the locker room in the third quarter, has the same injury and the same range.

Romello Height broke his hand and has surgery on Tuesday. Shanahan did not rule him out for Arizona: "An outside chance to be ready for the game Sunday, but he needs to get surgery on that tomorrow." Mike Evans, who took himself out of Sunday's game with a hip, will be managed through the practice week.

The receiver room is now five men, and two of them were barely playing two weeks ago#

Robinson was San Francisco's second-most-used receiver by snaps in Melbourne, on the field for 41 of 65 offensive plays, and he caught the team's first touchdown of the season on a 39-yard throw. Against Miami he had three catches for 34 yards on three targets before he was carted off in the second quarter. He has played 57 offensive snaps this season. Three to six weeks from Sunday puts his return somewhere between the middle of October and the start of November.

Put him on injured reserve and the club's roster carries five wide receivers: Deebo Samuel, Evans, Jacob Cowing, KhaDarel Hodge and Jordan Watkins. Injured reserve already holds three wide receivers in Ricky Pearsall, De'Zhaun Stribling and Christian Kirk, and it would then hold four. Kirk is the one with a date on it, and the date is not this week. "He's not an option this week," Shanahan said. "He's not there yet, so we've got to wait another week on him at least."

The reshuffle has already happened once. Cowing and Hodge were on the field for six offensive snaps between them in Melbourne. Against Miami they took 44, Cowing 24 and Hodge 20, because Stribling was on injured reserve and Robinson left at the half. Cowing has played 29 offensive snaps this season and has not been thrown to once.

Watkins is the other name, and he has been inactive for both games. The practice squad holds two receivers, Wesley Grimes and Will Pauling, and neither has been on the field for a snap this season.

None of which stopped the offense on Sunday. Brock Purdy went 20 of 22 for 287 yards with the room that thin, and ten of those twenty completions went to George Kittle, Christian McCaffrey and Kyle Juszczyk. Exactly half of what he completed went to men who are not wide receivers.

The defensive line has lost three men in two games, and the club has already made calls#

Height was on the field for 32 of 59 defensive snaps against Miami and Thompson for 21. That is 53 between them, thirteen more than Nick Bosa's 40. Sam Okuayinonu and Alfred Collins are on injured reserve, and Mykel Williams is on the physically unable to perform list.

Matt Barrows of The Athletic asked Shanahan on Sunday whether Leonard Floyd, who played here in 2024, was an option. "I mean, we always look at that," Shanahan said. "That's stuff that, as soon as we lost Sam and stuff, we talked to Leonard, we talked to a couple of people. But we'll see how this goes. There's no one that's for sure. But we'll see. With losing James possibly today, we'll see what his ankle injury is. It's a little different position with inside players, but we've lost about three guys here in the last two games, so we've got to do something eventually."

The club has already done the cheap version of this once. On September 19 it put Stribling on injured reserve and signed Ogbo Okoronkwo to the 53-man roster the same afternoon, one move with two halves, and the league transaction wire files Okoronkwo's half as a free-agent signing rather than an elevation. He was not a new arrival. He had been on the practice squad since the cutdown and had already played in Melbourne on a standard elevation, 18 of 61 defensive snaps. Against Miami, in his first game as a man actually signed to the 53, he played 16 of 59. The club converted a player it already had, and his share of the defense went down.

That is the shape of the answer available to San Francisco this week and the reason a signing from outside is not automatic. The 49ers carry four defensive linemen on the practice squad in Vincent Anthony Jr., Kevin Givens, McKinnley Jackson and Sebastian Valdez. Nine men are listed at defensive line on the active roster, and three of the nine are Height, with a hand that needs surgery, Thompson, with the high ankle, and Okoronkwo, who was not signed to the 53 until Saturday.

Williams is the one piece of good news, and it is a week away. He became eligible to practice this week and the club is holding him anyway. "If we let him go, he was just going to do individual this week, so just don't feel the risk/reward of letting him go this week when he's just doing individual," Shanahan said. "We're going to try to hold him so we can hopefully replicate that on the side and get him going for practice, hopefully next week." Both he and Kirk can be activated after Week 4.

What the week has to produce#

Three routes are open at receiver, and the club has not said it will take any of them. It can sign a free agent to the 53, which is the route that needs Robinson's roster spot and therefore needs the injured-reserve paperwork first. It can sign one to the practice squad and elevate him on Saturday, which is cheaper and slower. Or it can do neither and dress Watkins, who has been on the roster since the 53 was set and inactive for both games. On September 16, with Stribling already gone, Shanahan said San Francisco had as much depth at the position as any team in the league and did not need to add anybody. He has not been asked the question again since Robinson went off on the cart.

The first Week 3 practice report is due Wednesday, which is when the hip and the hand stop being adjectives and become participation designations.

Sources: the official NFL game books for Week 1 and Week 2 (snap counts, receiving lines, inactives); the 49ers' own roster and transaction pages; David Bonilla, 49ers Webzone, September 20 and 21; Kyle Posey, Niners Nation, September 21; Nick Wagoner, ESPN, September 20; Tristi Rodriguez, NBC Sports Bay Area, September 20. Shanahan's Floyd answer was carried by Bonilla from Sunday's availability.

Filed under 49ers

More on Mike Evans

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The rookie receiver

De'Zhaun Stribling Is Out At Least A Month, And Injured Reserve Would Cost At Most One Game More

De'Zhaun Stribling has a deltoid sprain in his ankle and is out at least a month, Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reported Sunday morning; the rookie is still seeking opinions and may need surgery, though none is planned. San Francisco has filed nothing: read at 4:50 p.m. Pacific Sunday, the club's transaction log still ends on September 10 and Stribling is still on the Active table. The reported month rules him out of Miami on September 20, Arizona on September 27 and Denver on October 4 whether he goes on injured reserve or not. The four-game minimum that comes with the designation adds at most one more, October 11 at Lumen Field, and Christian Kirk becomes eligible to return from injured reserve for that same game. The first club document that has to say anything is Wednesday's injury report; Nick Avila of NBC Sports Bay Area reported that the players do not practise until then. Behind Stribling the active roster carries Mike Evans, Demarcus Robinson, Deebo Samuel, Jacob Cowing and Jordan Watkins, and Watkins was inactive in Melbourne. One take filed, priced at -120.

Sam KezarSep 13, 20264 min read
De'Zhaun Stribling Is Out At Least A Month, And Injured Reserve Would Cost At Most One Game More
The rookie

The Right Denominator For De'Zhaun Stribling's First Game Is Twenty-Six, Not Sixty-Five

De'Zhaun Stribling, the wide receiver San Francisco took with the 33rd pick in April, was hurt in his first professional game and the 49ers have published nothing about him since. The official participation report has him at 21 offensive snaps of 65, which is 32 percent. Counted against the 26 plays from scrimmage San Francisco ran before the snap he was injured on, it is 21 of 26, or 81 percent. The count reconciles to 65 at the end of the game once the second-quarter roughing-the-passer penalty is included, which is the check on it. He was not targeted on any of the 21. Six 49ers receivers took an offensive snap in Melbourne: Mike Evans 49, Demarcus Robinson 41, Deebo Samuel 27, Stribling 21, Jacob Cowing 5 and KhaDarel Hodge 1. Tight end Luke Farrell played 46, more than every receiver but Evans, and fullback Kyle Juszczyk played 33, more than Samuel. Four of the five other receivers who played are 30 or older. Kyle Shanahan said after the game that the Achilles was checked and intact and that the club was not sure of the magnitude of the ankle injury; further testing waited on the flight home, which David Bonilla of 49ers Webzone clocked at 13 hours 46 minutes, landing at SFO at 3:06 p.m. Friday. San Francisco's next game is Miami at Levi's Stadium on Sunday, September 20, at 1:25 p.m. Pacific, and the 49ers traded down twice in April, first with Miami, to reach the pick they spent on Stribling. No take filed.

Grant LombardSep 13, 20264 min read
The Right Denominator For De'Zhaun Stribling's First Game Is Twenty-Six, Not Sixty-Five
Practice Notebook

Nick Bosa And Christian McCaffrey Did No Drills In The Open Portion Of The First Melbourne Practice

Nick Bosa and Christian McCaffrey did not take part in drills during the portion of San Francisco's first Melbourne practice open to reporters, per Matt Maiocco at NBC Sports Bay Area and Matt Barrows at The Athletic. San Francisco plays the Rams at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Thursday at 5:35 p.m. Pacific. Reporters leave before team drills, and the club was not required to file a participation report, so what either man did after that is not public. Shanahan said the time difference meant he did not have to talk about injuries until the following day, and did not. George Kittle and Mike Evans practised. Barrows listed six men back from injury: Renardo Green, Romello Height, Jacob Cowing, Vederian Lowe, Gracen Halton and Luke Gifford. Five of the six who sat out the September 2 practice in Santa Clara are on that list; James Thompson Jr. is on no list either way. The club named eight captains, all eight returning from 2025, and Bosa and McCaffrey are two of them. Brayden Willis is back on the practice squad, which now sits at seventeen.

Sam KezarSep 7, 20265 min read
Nick Bosa And Christian McCaffrey Did No Drills In The Open Portion Of The First Melbourne Practice

More on Jordan James

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Game Week

San Francisco Has Told You George Kittle Plays. It Has Not Told You How Much Of Him You Get.

San Francisco's Week 1 injury report, read live at 49ers.com and again at therams.com on Thursday morning Pacific, carries eleven San Francisco names and two designations. Alfred Collins, listed at defensive line with a knee, is Out; the club's own item says he tore a patellar tendon and will miss the 2026 season. James Thompson Jr., hamstring, is Questionable after going from did not participate to limited. The other nine, including Nick Bosa, Kyle Juszczyk, Dre Greenlaw and George Kittle, carry no game designation, and Upton Stout is the only full participant on the page. Kittle is limited on every practice day the report carries a value for, with no designation, on an Achilles tendon he tore on January 11. The grid's Monday column is empty on all eighteen rows across both clubs, while the club's own news item describes three Melbourne practices. The Rams' half has filled since Wednesday: Aaron Donald is Out, listed not injury related and resting, and the other six Los Angeles names carry the dash the legend defines as not listed. Kyle Shanahan on Bosa and Kittle: 'We've got to be smart with that.' Kickoff is 5:35 p.m. Pacific at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. One take filed.

Grant LombardSep 10, 20265 min read
San Francisco Has Told You George Kittle Plays. It Has Not Told You How Much Of Him You Get.
49ers Pregame

Aaron Donald Did Not Travel And Myles Garrett Did

San Francisco plays Los Angeles at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Thursday, 5:35 p.m. Pacific, on Netflix. Alfred Collins tore his patellar tendon at the second Melbourne practice and is out for the season, the only San Francisco player on the final Week 1 report carrying a game designation apart from James Thompson Jr., who is questionable with a hamstring. Nick Bosa and George Kittle carry no designation at all. On the Rams sheet Aaron Donald is out and did not travel, and Myles Garrett went from not practising to full participation and plays.

Sam KezarSep 10, 20264 min read
Aaron Donald Did Not Travel And Myles Garrett Did
Game Week

Nobody San Francisco Added Thursday Plays Defensive Tackle

San Francisco placed DL Alfred Collins on injured reserve and activated WR KhaDarel Hodge and DL Ogbo Okoronkwo from its practice squad as standard elevations, all three moves in one release published at 1:53 p.m. Pacific on Thursday, three hours and forty-two minutes before the season opener against the Los Angeles Rams at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Hodge and Okoronkwo revert to the practice squad after the game, and a standard elevation is capped at three per player per season. Neither plays defensive tackle. The club's depth chart, stamped September 8 and labelled unofficial, lists four men at the two tackle spots: Osa Odighizuwa at 280 pounds and C.J. West at 316 on the left, Collins and then rookies Gracen Halton at 293 and James Thompson Jr. at 308 on the right. Thompson was Questionable with a hamstring, the only game designation San Francisco issued for the opener. The inactive lists resolved it: six San Francisco names, none of them a defensive lineman, and Thompson dresses. That leaves right defensive tackle to two rookies. The report the club distributed at 12:23 a.m. Pacific has Halton at full participation for the last Melbourne practice; the table on the club's own injury-report page, read at 2:51 p.m., still showed him limited and left his injury column blank. The practice squad holds three defensive linemen heavier than Okoronkwo's 253 pounds, including Kevin Givens, the man the club waived on August 5 to sign Hodge and Okoronkwo. Counted in a browser at 2:53 p.m. Pacific, the roster page carried 54 on Active, 12 on injured reserve, two on Reserve/Physically Unable to Perform and 15 on the practice squad, which puts 52 players on a roster that may hold 53. The Active table held eight defensive linemen. The transaction log still ended on September 5. One take filed.

Sam KezarSep 10, 20264 min read
Nobody San Francisco Added Thursday Plays Defensive Tackle

On the record

Called Shots →
OpenJul 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.

Latest on the 49ers

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Week 2 Analysis

Opponents have reached the 49ers' red zone five times and scored one touchdown

Two days after the 35-13 win over Miami, the two game books describe a defense that is hard to finish against and easy to move against. Opponents have gained 5.1 yards a play in both games and reached the San Francisco 20 five times for one touchdown. Miami spent 19:17 on its first three possessions and got six points, twice reaching goal to go and twice kicking. San Francisco's first four sacks of the season came either inside its own red zone or with a lead of 15 or more, and Nick Bosa is credited with none of them, and with no quarterback hit either, on 40 of 59 defensive snaps. PFF's charting of the same game puts him ahead of every other 49er in total pressures.

Sam KezarSep 22, 20266 min read
Opponents have reached the 49ers' red zone five times and scored one touchdown
49ers Takeaways

Week 2 takeaways: five touchdowns before San Francisco's first punt

San Francisco is 2-0 after a 35-13 win over Miami in the home opener. The 49ers scored touchdowns on their first five drives and did not punt until 10:38 of the fourth quarter. Purdy was 20 of 22 for 287 yards and two touchdowns with a 149.1 rating and no sack taken. The defense recorded four sacks after none in Week 1, from Marques Sigle, Keion White, Romello Height and a Warner-Stout split, none from Bosa. Miami had first and goal twice and came away with six points. Eddy Piñeiro, the kicker the week was spent on, attempted no field goal.

Sam KezarSep 21, 20265 min read
Week 2 takeaways: five touchdowns before San Francisco's first punt
Game Week

San Francisco won by 20 without a sack. Miami gave up five.

San Francisco hosts Miami at 1:25 p.m. Pacific on FOX in its home opener. The 49ers beat the Rams 27-7 in Melbourne without a sack, taking eight quarterback hits instead, four of them by Osa Odighizuwa. Miami lost 27-13 at Las Vegas behind Malik Willis, who was sacked five times. Eddy Piñeiro is questionable with an illness that cost him all three practices, and the club auditioned two kickers Saturday and signed neither. Ten men to watch, and the reason the first one is the kicker.

Sam KezarSep 20, 20264 min read
San Francisco won by 20 without a sack. Miami gave up five.

Earlier on the 49ers

Called Shots

Every Under Is A Man Coming Off A Lost Season

Seventeen season lines, one side taken on each: the 49ers over 9.5 wins, Christian McCaffrey over 900 rushing yards and over 12.5 touchdowns, Brock Purdy over 3,600 passing yards and 27 combined touchdowns, and team sacks over 35 after a 20.0-sack 2025. The three unders are Mike Evans at 900 receiving yards, George Kittle at 700 and Nick Bosa at 12 sacks, and each is a bet on a calendar rather than a player. Thirteen of the seventeen file to the Called Shots ledger and grade when the regular season ends. Four do not: the Deebo Samuel and Nick Bosa lines and the two team-defense lines are argued here and not filed, because at an honest price each of the four is closer to a statement than a call.

Sam KezarSep 6, 20268 min read
Every Under Is A Man Coming Off A Lost Season
Camp Notebook

Two Men On The 49ers' Injured Reserve Page Do Not Work There Anymore

San Francisco has taken three players off injured reserve since Monday and published none of it. The league's waivers wire carries Titus Leo and Tanner McLachlan dated August 25, both reading Terminated Via Waivers, all contracts, and Xavier Thomas dated August 26 with the same wording. The step before it differs by man: Leo and Thomas were waived with an injury settlement, McLachlan with no recall. The club's transaction log's newest entry is Tuesday's Deion Jones trade. Over The Cap and Spotrac each now list five men on San Francisco's injured reserve totalling $5,604,563 and neither carries any of the three, while the club's own roster page still lists seven under Reserve/Injured, those five plus Leo and Thomas. Also: Kyle Shanahan named Christian Kirk, Vederian Lowe and Nick Martin as candidates to open the season on injured reserve, a designation that only works for a player who makes the initial 53 first; Nick Bosa's knee has a name in print for the first time; Renardo Green's imaging result is still unpublished six days after the coach ordered it; and the club hosted a free-agent defensive end on a visit Wednesday.

Sam KezarAug 26, 20264 min read
Two Men On The 49ers' Injured Reserve Page Do Not Work There Anymore
Camp Notebook

Brett Toth's Undisclosed Injury Was A Concussion, And This Board Took Him Off The 53

Saturday's notebook: the undisclosed injury this beat has been carrying for three days got a name and cost its owner a place on this site's projected 53, Connor Colby lost most of a one-on-one session two days after losing the first-team reps, the defence intercepted Brock Purdy twice in the red zone, and the head coach took a podium for the first time since his car accident.

Sam KezarAug 8, 20268 min read
Brett Toth's Undisclosed Injury Was A Concussion, And This Board Took Him Off The 53