Randy Gregory rejoined his new San Francisco 49ers teammates this week after returning to Denver to gather his belongings. The pass rusher was briefly in Santa Clara last week to undergo a physical and meet with some of the coaches and players as his trade from the Broncos was finalized.
Although he was inactive this past Sunday night against the Dallas Cowboys, there's a strong possibility we'll see him in action this weekend against the Cleveland Browns.
"I think there's a good opportunity," general manager John Lynch told KNBR's Brian Murphy and Markus Boucher on Friday morning. "He's done a really good job. We'll tighten things up, and I think there will be probably [head coach] Kyle [Shanahan] meeting with [defensive coordinator] Steve Wilks and [defensive line coach] Kris Kocurek at the end of the day, getting a plan for Randy, whether it involves this week or moving forward.
"But he's been out on the practice field, been looking good, and really fitting in well with our chemistry of this team."
The 49ers acquired Gregory from the Broncos, exchanging a 2024 sixth-round draft pick while gaining a seventh-round pick in return. Lynch highlighted the low risk and high potential to bolster an already talented defensive front.
"Randy was too good of a player who was out there," Lynch shared. "New circumstances, new regime in Denver, and they had some young guys they wanted to start playing as they're figuring their path to success out.
"So we felt like very low risk, very high opportunity for reward. Kris Kocurek, our D-line coach, has done it with a lot of other players. He gets his hands on them and just cuts them loose, really, and then hones their technique a little.
"The sky's the limit. And Randy's a very talented young man. We've loved him since he's been in here. He's been awesome to work with. And so we're going to see him, hopefully, this weekend, cut it loose, and see what he can do for us."
Lynch and Shanahan have consistently prioritized a stout defensive front since taking over the roster-building task in Santa Clara, evident by the duo using its first-ever draft pick on a defensive lineman.
Since then, they have brought in playmakers like Nick Bosa and Javon Hargrave to fortify a unit capable of dominating in the trenches.
"We want an embarrassment of riches up front," Lynch said. "That's the way we're driven. It used to be, I feel like when I played, you could have Warren Sapp. And if you had one dominant player, and then, man, it would sure be nice to get a Simeon Rice, which we did in our Super Bowl year.
"And you had good players to compliment, but you didn't have eight deep. Nowadays, it feels like, in our league, you got to come in waves, and that's what we believe in. We believe that up front."
You can listen to the entire conversation with Lynch below.