The San Francisco 49ers protected three practice squad players this week. The team is currently in its bye week and will face the Indianapolis Colts at Levi's Stadium on Sunday, October 24.
The three players protected are tight end Tanner Hudson, offensive lineman Colton McKivitz, and quarterback Nate Sudfeld, per The Athletic.
49ers this week protected practice squadders:
* TE Tanner Hudson
* OL Colton McKivitz
* QB Nate SudfeldYou may have read somewhere that QBs Jimmy Garoppolo (calf) and Trey Lance (knee) are dealing with injuries.
— Matt Barrows (@mattbarrows) October 13, 2021
NFL teams can protect up to four practice squad players per week from being signed by other teams. In addition, teams can elevate up to two practice squad players to the active roster before 1 p.m. PT the day before a game. Doing so will not require removing others from the active roster, and the players will revert back to the practice squad following the game.
As noted by Matt Barrows, the 49ers' two other quarterbacks, veteran Jimmy Garoppolo and rookie Trey Lance are both dealing with injuries. That leaves Sudfeld as the team's only healthy quarterback. Garoppolo suffered his calf injury on October 3 against the Seattle Seahawks, while Lance suffered his knee injury this past weekend against the Arizona Cardinals.
"I think [Garoppolo will] be ready to go next week when we get back," head coach Kyle Shanahan said this week. "That's the plan. I know he's doing a lot better now than he was last week."
Lance's status for the team's Week 7 matchup against the Colts is unknown.
"We'll re-evaluate him at the end of the week to determine his status for next week," Shanahan said. "We really won't know whether he's got a chance versus Indy until next week, but he's got a chance. It's possibly one or two weeks. We'll have to wait and see."
San Francisco is without All-Pro tight end George Kittle for at least two more games, which probably explains why Hudson was protected.