As 49ers injuries begin to stack up, potential roster issues arrise

SANTA CLARA — Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: Injuries are starting to stack up for the San Francisco 49ers.Only this year, it’s taken just two weeks to become a problem.Unlike last season, the issue isn’t with any of the combined 54 Pro Bowl nods on their roster.But the blows keep coming further down the depth chart, and it’s left the Niners in an unusual bind.

Decisions that might have once seemed straightforward now come with an extra layer of complication for head coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch.“There’s a lot of variables there,” Shanahan said.“It’s complicated, and we’ve got to guess.”So far, that guessing game has left two players that would have otherwise been no-brainers for injured reserve still on the 49ers’ active roster.

Neither wide receiver Demarcus Robinson nor defensive tackle James Thompson Jr.will practice or play this week with high-ankle sprains — typically a 3-6 week injury — but they haven’t been placed on IR, either.Since 2023, a trip to the injured reserve no longer necessarily rules a player out for the season.

But teams are only designated eight slots that can be used to activate players from IR, and with another 15 games still to go, the 49ers are rapidly approaching their anticipated allotment. “That’s why it’s not simple just to put everybody on IR return because then eventually you’re not going to get one back,” Shanahan said.“We’re going to run out of them eventually, so that’s what we’re trying to balance out, see how those guys are this week.”While Shanahan said both players are “most likely” headed for IR anyway, if either is trending toward the earlier side of the timeline to return to the field, it’s probably in the Niners’ best interest in the long-term to slightly hamper their 53-man roster in the near-term.

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