49ers sign safety, add WR and DB to practice squad

Injuries forced the San Francisco 49ers to add a familiar face at safety to their roster.

The 49ers on Tuesday announced a series of roster moves, including the addition of safety Chris Edwards to the active roster. They also added a pair of players to their practice squad.

Edwards is a somewhat familiar face who spent part of the offseason with the 49ers before they released him in early August when the 90-man rosters had to be reduced for COVID-19 precautions.

He made his way to the NFL as an undrafted free agent with the Raiders via the University of Idaho in 2016. Oakland cut him though and he made his way to the Canadian Football League where he posted 112 tackles and four interceptions in 53 games for two different teams.

With safeties Johnathan Cyprien and Jared Mayden both on Injured Reserve, the 49ers needed some safety depth. Edwards will likely step in as a special teams player and fourth option behind Jimmie Ward, Tarvarius Moore and Marcell Harris.

San Francisco’s two new practice squad players also include a familiar face. Wide receiver Shawn Poindexter is back with the club after getting cut before the start of the 2020 season. Poindexter was a 2018 undrafted free agent signee who tore his ACL in the first preseason game and spent the year on IR.

Their other practice squad addition is journeyman safety Kai Nacua. The Browns originally signed him as an undrafted rookie in 2017. He spent time in Cleveland, Baltimore, Carolina and Indianapolis during his three seasons in the NFL.

Nacua played in 16 games for the Browns with three starts his rookie year and racked up 14 tackles and one tackle for loss.