The 49ers were bit hard by the injury bug Monday night, but the biggest blow came when defensive end Ronald Blair suffered a torn ACL while taking down Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson.
Blair on Wednesday was officially placed on injured reserve, and his roster spot was filled with defensive end Damontre Moore.
Moore might sound familiar because of his terrific preseason showing with the 49ers. He had 2.0 sacks in the exhibition slate, but created a ton of pressure in a relatively large sample size.
His big preseason wasn’t enough to land a roster spot though on a deep 49ers defensive line. Losing Blair put the 49ers in a spot where they couldn’t simply add another DL. They had to match Blair’s skill set, and Moore is probably the closest they were going to find on the free agent wire.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters the team wanted Moore on the roster, but couldn’t make it work at a deep defensive end spot. He also said they were fortunate Moore was available after his strong preseason.
“Yeah, definitely with how well of a preseason he had,” Shanahan said when asked if he was surprised Moore was available. “But it’s tough in this league, especially being a veteran when you don’t have practice squad eligibility. I guess it didn’t work out for him, but with the tape he put on, yeah, we were surprised and felt lucky he was still out there.”
Moore has played in 54 games across six NFL seasons. He also spent time in the Alliance of American Football and played well in the now-defunct league. The 27-year-old has 10-career sacks, although 9.5 of them came in the 2014 and 2015 seasons.
Replacing Blair won’t be easy. He’s a very smart, productive player in the 49ers defensive line rotation. Blair had 3.0 sacks and seven tackles for loss before sustaining his season-ending knee injury.
Moore will get a chance to debut for the 49ers on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium.