NFL teams must trim rosters down to 53 players by August 26, leaving hundreds of players across the league searching for new opportunities. For the San Francisco 49ers, this year's cutdown process is proving especially difficult due to an unusually high number of injuries impacting the team.
On Tuesday, 17 players sat out practice, including several key contributors. Wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk, defensive end Yetur Gross-Matos, and safety Malik Mustapha remain on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list with knee injuries. Rookie quarterback Kurtis Rourke is on the non-football injury list as he recovers from ACL surgery (although the 49ers expected that upon drafting the player). Additionally, five players currently occupy spots on the injured reserve list.
On Tuesday, head coach Kyle Shanahan was asked if the numerous injuries make the upcoming roster decisions more challenging than usual.
"Yeah, definitely," Shanahan responded. "I mean, there are a lot of different thoughts you're trying to take on. You want to think of who your team is for Week 1, who your 53 is, who your 46 is (active players on game days), who's going to be back for Week 2, and who might be up in Week 1."
Shanahan added that it's not just deciding who will be a part of the 53-man roster. The practice squad is a key factor, as the 49ers often re-sign players who already know the system and have experience from training camp.
NBC Sports Bay Area's Matt Maiocco noted that teams can place two players on injured reserve with a designation to return concurrent with the 53-man roster cutdown. He speculated that defensive tackle Kevin Givens (pectoral injury) and running back Corey Kiner (high-ankle sprain) are the most likely candidates since neither is expected to be ready for Week 1.
Update: The 49ers waived/injured Kiner in a series of roster moves on August 20.
"So all that stuff pans out," Shanahan added. "It's a really complicated thing that we really can't talk about enough because it's always changing each day, and it will be all the way up to when we make that decision. Even after we make that decision, we'll have to do that all the way until the Friday or Saturday of that game also."
The injuries have raised broader concerns, especially after a 2024 season plagued by health setbacks. Have Shanahan and the 49ers identified any underlying causes for the recurring issues?
"It's stuff that we look into every year," Shanahan said. "We'll try to even look into it more after this year. But we haven't even been able to have the training camp that we normally want to have because of the injuries. It's not like they just all happened one week. They happened pretty early with the number of guys.
"And just the way our schedule's gone with our scrimmages, having these games, the off days, and traveling, I don't feel like we've had enough of the training camp practice to say that we're going too hard. But obviously, we have too many guys down, so we've got to look into all that stuff, and figure out whatever we can do better."