San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Marquise Goodwin has missed the last two games but should be suited up and ready to go on Monday night against the Seattle Seahawks. His absence hasn't been missed too much because the team added veteran wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders before Week 8.
For the 49ers, it will be nice to have one of their fastest players back on the field.
San Francisco has six receivers it can suit up. The team had five active the last two weeks, but Goodwin's availability on Monday will create a decision for Shanahan.
"He's healthy, and he's good to go," head coach Kyle Shanahan said of Goodwin on Saturday. "He had a good week of practice. It has become a much harder decision for us since Emmanuel got here. There's no obvious guy, especially when you throw special teams in. They all do a little bit different stuff."
Shanahan admitted that he has a good idea how his inactives — at least when it comes to his receivers — might shake out against the Seahawks. He wasn't, however, willing to share that information on Saturday. You never know who might be listening (we're looking at you Pete Carroll), and every advantage counts in a divisional game as important as Monday's.
"That's something I've got a pretty good idea of how it's going to be on Monday," Shanahan continued, "but all the guys are too different for me to let it be known now. You guys will have to see on Monday."
Goodwin has 11 receptions for 181 yards with a touchdown through six games.
Shanahan also discussed Sanders, who has now been with the team for about two-and-a-half weeks. The veteran receiver had seven catches for 112 yards with a touchdown against the Arizona Cardinals, his second game with San Francisco.
Despite the instant production, Sanders' role has been limited as he studied the 49ers' playbook. Shanahan was asked if his role might be expanded now that he has had more time to learn the offense.
"Yeah, the thing with our offense, just the verbiage, and stuff, he plays the Z position, and we can move him around to any spot," Shanahan said. "We usually have words that keep him at the Z all day. But, if we don't have a word that can do it and we don't want the guys to learn it, then we just tell him and one of the other people to switch positions.
"Whatever game plan you give Emmanuel, he gets it down pretty fast."