49ers exercise Alex Smith buy-back clause

As if the season-ending injury to starting cornerback Jason Verrett was not disappointing enough, the San Francisco 49ers lost another key player during Week 1's victory over the Detroit Lions. Raheem Mostert's 2021 campaign is over. The running back suffered a knee injury and will undergo season-ending surgery. That's a tough loss on each side of the football, and San Francisco still has 16 more regular-season games to play. "Just to say, Raheem is such an awesome dude," center Alex Mack told 95.7 The Game's Damon Bruce, Ray Ratto, and Matt Kolsky on Wednesday. "It's been great to join this team and get to know him. My heart goes out to him. I hope he gets healthy and gets back quick." Mostert is scheduled to become a free agent after this

San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan joined KNBR's Murph & Mac show this morning and threw cold water on the heated rumors that wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk is in his doghouse. The second-year player had an impressive rookie campaign last season, and high expectations prefaced his sophomore NFL season. In Week 1, Aiyuk split playing time with Trent Sherfield and wasn't targeted against the Detroit Lions. It had nothing to do with the young receiver being in Shanahan's doghouse, though. The coach wanted to dispel those rumors and once again explain Aiyuk's reduced role. "No. It's not a doghouse. It's just a pretty simple thing," Shanahan said. "Trent Sherfield has played at a very high level every single day for the entire training camp. Aiyuk

San Francisco WR Brandon Aiyuk had a dud performance last week, stat-sheet-wise, as he compiled zero catches for zero yards with zero rushes. His complement WR Trent Sherfield caught two passes for 23 yards on three targets while also playing one more snap than Aiyuk. This raised concerns for the second-year wide receiver, who came off an impressive rookie campaign where he caught 60 passes for 748 yards on just 12 games played, with 11 of those being starts. However, Aiyuk is coming off of a lingering hamstring injury that he faced in the offseason, which allowed Sherfield to get more reps and rapport with the two quarterbacks in practice. Still, with the talent Aiyuk displayed last season, the 49ers certainly haven't "given up" on their first-round

The San Francisco 49ers announced a couple of practice squad roster moves ahead of Friday's practice. The team has re-signed safety Kai Nacua. To make room on the practice squad, the 49ers released linebacker Rashad Smith. The 49ers Communications staff provided the following rundown. Nacua (6-0, 205) appeared in five games with the 49ers in 2020 and registered one tackle on special teams after he was promoted to the active roster from the team's practice squad. He signed a one-year extension with the team on February 11, 2021, and was later released on August