The San Francisco 49ers will look to get by the Atlanta Falcons in Week 15, doing so with a largely patchwork defensive backfield missing a lot of its starting players.
Injuries have hit the Niners hard as of late, especially on defense, which doesn't exactly bode well against wide receiver Julio Jones, quarterback Matt Ryan and the rest of the Falcons offense, which enters the contest with the third most passing yards in the league (3,844).
San Francisco declared the following players inactive for the game:
EDGE Dee Ford
CB Richard Sherman
CB K'Waun Williams
S Jaquiski Tartt
DT Jullian Taylor
QB C.J. Beathard
WR Jordan Matthews
Sherman and Williams suffered their injuries during the 49ers' Week 14 road win over the New Orleans Saints. The 49ers could have activated Sherman, who practiced in limited fashion this week, yet instead elected to give his hamstring injury another week of rest. Williams, meanwhile, remains in the concussion protocol. Tartt is still nursing a ribs injury.
Second-year pro Marcell Harris is expected to fill in for Tartt, like he did last week, while the Niners will use a combination of cornerbacks Emmanuel Moseley, Ahkello Witherspoon and D.J. Reed to make up for the absences of Sherman and Williams.
With nose tackle D.J. Jones going on season-ending injured reserve with an ankle injury, the 49ers promoted second-year defensive lineman Kentavius Street from injured reserve, although Street has yet to play a regular-season snap at the NFL level.
Peter Panacy has been writing about the 49ers since 2011 for outlets like Bleacher Report, Niner Noise, 49ers Webzone, and is occasionally heard as a guest on San Francisco's 95.7 FM The Game and the Niners' flagship station, KNBR 680. Feel free to follow him, or direct any inquiries to his Twitter account.
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