Cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon has found himself among the San Francisco 49ers' inactive players for the last three games. It wasn't because of any injury either. He was last active on November 1, when all of his snaps came on special teams. That's not a good vote of confidence in the former defensive starter and impending free agent.
Witherspoon's game status could be different on Monday night against the Buffalo Bills.
"Ahkello definitely has a chance to get up this week," head coach Kyle Shanahan said Friday morning on KNBR's Murph & Mac show. "I expect him to. I mean, a lot of that has been special-teams decisions. We lost two guys, our starting nickel. Then we lost Ken Webster, who was a special-teams player, and he was getting up over Ahkello because of special teams.
"But now, we're down two guys, which moves Ahkello up. And I expect Ahkello to come in and play at a high level if we need him on defense, and I think he'll come out, and he'll be a better special-teams player for us this week too."
The fact that it takes so many injuries for the fourth-year cornerback even to have a chance to suit up could be a sign of how the team views Witherspoon.
"I really like Ahkello," Shanahan added. "I think Ahkello's a really good dude. I enjoy talking to him. We talked a lot over these years together. He knows what I like about his game. He knows what I dislike about his game."
You can listen to the entire conversation with Shanahan below.