The 49ers’ major injuries continued stacking up Thursday when they placed tight end Garrett Celek on Injured Reserve due to a back injury.
Celek had back surgery in the offseason and started the year on the Physically Unable to Perform list. He returned in Week 10 against the Seahawks and saw limited playing time across five games. He played a season-high 23 snaps against the Cardinals in Week 11, but his playing time rapidly decreased until he was in for just six snaps against Baltimore and seven against New Orleans.
He was still experiencing some of the effects of that back injury and it forced the 49ers to cut his season short. Celek will end the final year of his contract with the 49ers on IR.
Undrafted rookie Daniel Helm was elevated from the practice squad to replace Celek. The Duke product originally signed with the Chargers before making his way to San Francisco during camp. He played some tight end and fullback for the 49ers during the preseason and acquitted himself well enough to land a practice squad spot.
Helm had 69 catches for 767 yards and six touchdowns across 38 games for the Blue Devils. He had two catches for 16 yards in the preseason.
The 49ers announced safety Jacob Thieneman would replace Helm on the practice squad. Thieneman signed with the Giants as an undrafted rookie out of Purdue following this year’s draft. He was released and spent time with the Colts before they released him ahead of final roster cuts.
Thieneman played in 34 games for the Boilermakers and posted 170 tackles, 13 tackles for loss, 7.0 sacks, 11 pass breakups and three interceptions.