Tag: 49ers cuts

Don’t expect 49ers to move on from Jake Moody despite nightmare game

Jake Moody isn’t going anywhere for the 49ers.

San Francisco 49ers kicker Jake Moody didn’t have his best game as a pro Sunday in Tampa Bay.

In fact, despite making the game-winning kick on the final play of the game, Moody might have had his worst overall game as a pro.

Moody missed three kicks during the 49ers’ tumultuous 23-20 win over the Buccaneers in his first game back from a high ankle sprain he suffered in Week 5. Despite the rough outing, head coach Kyle Shanahan doesn’t appear ready to move on from his kicker.

His answer when asked about Moody in a Monday conference call reflected his “you’re only as good as your last kick” sentiment from his postgame press conference Sunday.

“Not much different,” Shanahan said Monday. “He missed three kicks. I thought it wasn’t the easiest place to kick in. The wind was weird, especially the direction that he missed the stuff. It was different. But it was a few big kicks and came back and hit his first game winner on a walk off. So, thought he finished it well and we’ll move on to next week with it.”

Entering Sunday’s game, Moody had only one miss on the season – a 55-yard try late in Week 3 against the Los Angeles Rams. Last season he missed multiple kicks in a game only once, and that came in a Week 6 loss to the Cleveland Browns where one of his misses was a game-winning try.

The 49ers’ willingness to put Moody back out for another field goal try was a sign of the faith they have in their 2023 third-round pick. Ideally the 49ers offense will start converting more drives into touchdowns, but they’ll continue relying on Moody until they do.

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49ers waive former starting slot CB after strong preseason finale

A big decision has been made in the 49ers’ secondary.

The San Francisco 49ers had a tough decision to make in their secondary.

They needed to figure out who to put on the roster alongside Charvarius Ward, Deommodore Lenoir, Renardo Green and likely Isaac Yiadom. There were only a couple of roster spots for a handful of candidates.

It looked like Rock Ya-Sin did enough to make the club, leaving Darrell Luter Jr. and Samuel Womack potentially battling for one roster spot.

If that was the case, Luter won out.

ESPN’s Nick Wagoner reported Tuesday before the 1:00pm Pacific Time cut deadline that the 49ers waived Womack.

Womack, a 2022 fifth-round pick, had a strong showing in the team’s preseason finale and has been a special teams stalwart over the last two seasons. He was unable to secure a roster spot in his third year though, marking the end of a rapid descent for a player who started the 2022 season as the 49ers’ starting nickel cornerback.

The 49ers removed Womack from the starting lineup after two weeks, but it looked like his arrow was trending up in the future of San Francisco’s secondary. He never regained his form, however, and slowly fell back on the depth chart until this offseason where he fell off the roster entirely.

There’s certainly a chance the 49ers bring him back to the practice squad if he clears waivers, but Womack is a good enough player that some CB-needy team may scoop him up before San Francisco can bring him back.

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Report: 2 49ers will begin season on IR with return designation

The San Francisco 49ers will place two players on IR today.

The San Francisco 49ers will announce their final cuts Tuesday.

Part of those moves will include placing a couple of players on Injured Reserve. NBC Sports Bay Area’s Matt Maiocco reported Tuesday that offensive lineman Jon Feliciano and defensive lineman Kalia Davis will both begin the season on IR for San Francisco.

Both Feliciano and Davis suffered knee injuries during the preseason that required surgery. They’re both expected to miss about half the season, and their placement on IR was also anticipated.

Thanks to new NFL rules, the 49ers won’t need to place either one on the 53-man roster.

Previous NFL rules required injured players to land on the 53-man roster before being placed on IR. An IR placement before final cuts would ostensibly end that player’s season.

Now, teams are allowed to place up to two players on IR before final cuts with a designation to return. They’re still required to miss at least four weeks before returning to action, but they don’t need to take up two spots on the 53-man roster.

That opens the door for San Francisco to keep replacements for both instead of subjecting players to waivers and potentially losing them to other clubs.

Feliciano when he returns should provide good veteran depth on the interior of the 49ers’ offensive line. He could wind up in a starting role as well depending on how things are going with center Jake Brendel and rookie right guard Dominick Puni.

Davis figures to add depth to the defensive tackle rotation where San Francisco is a little bit thin. He was having a strong training camp before going down with his injury in the first preseason game.

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49ers may have to get active in trade market with final cuts looming

Don’t be surprised if the 49ers are busy in the trade market.

The San Francisco 49ers may have some work to do to shore up some key areas of their roster.

Final cuts are due at 1:00pm Pacific Time on Tuesday, and a quick run through of their potential 53-man roster exposes a couple of areas where depth is a real problem for the 49ers. On the other hand, there are a couple spots where they have excess talent and may have to let go of an NFL-caliber player.

Those two things may lead the 49ers to get active in the trade market early in the season.

Let’s start at quarterback where Josh Dobbs and Brandon Allen both made strong cases to be the team’s backup signal caller. It’s hard to envision San Francisco letting one of them go since they’d likely get scooped up to another team’s 53-man roster.

Perhaps the 49ers want to keep three QBs. However, reliable QB play is scarce enough in the NFL that one of Dobbs or Allen could fetch a decent return in a trade where San Francisco lets one of them go.

Running back is another position where the 49ers could execute a trade. If Jordan Mason has passed Elijah Mitchell on the depth chart, it doesn’t leave any kind of role for Mitchell since he doesn’t contribute on special teams. In that event, the 49ers could aim to move their 2021 sixth-round pick and roll with Christian McCaffrey, Mason, and rookies Isaac Guerendo and Cody Schrader since they can both take on special teams roles.

Mitchell has been a good player for the 49ers when he’s been healthy, but availability has been a problem throughout his NFL career. It was a problem again this offseason when he missed a big chunk of camp because of a hamstring injury. Head coach Kyle Shanahan trusts him, which may be enough to earn a roster spot, but it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the 49ers try and move him for a draft pick.

Linebacker is the final spot where the 49ers may have a trade chip available. If they keep six LBs on their 53-man roster, it still leaves out one of Dee Winters, Jalen Graham, Curtis Robinson or Tatum Bethune. San Francisco may just try cutting one and getting them to the practice squad, but they could also move one for a late-round draft pick.

We saw them execute a similar move with undrafted rookie Jonas Griffith in 2021. San Francisco dealt Griffith to the Broncos with a seventh-round pick in exchange for a sixth-round pick. Don’t be surprised if that’s the ultimate solution to the 49ers’ glut of LB options.

Moving on from players for late-round picks is nice for next year, but the 49ers may also need to get active in bringing in players.

Their depth at defensive end is rough, and more help there is going to be necessary at some point this season. They’ll likely scour the waiver wire as final cuts start rolling in to see if they can swipe a player without having to trade for one.

They should be on the phone before that though to eliminate other teams from the equation. If they can find a pass rusher that’s going to get cut, and they can trade a late pick for them, they should do so.

At this point of the year that trade isn’t going to land them a Pro Bowler. Their sudden injury issues at DE lower the bar for what they need at the position though. With Leonard Floyd and Yetur Gross-Matos both working through knee sprains, San Francisco is dangerously thin at DE. Perhaps they love their in-house options, but adding another body or two at the position definitely wouldn’t hurt with a couple weeks to go until the regular season.

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When do 49ers make final roster cuts?

The 49ers finish up their preseason slate on Friday. Here’s when final cuts are due:

The San Francisco 49ers have some difficult decisions to make when they trim their 90-man offseason roster down to 53 players.

After a couple of years with multiple cutdown days, the NFL reverted to just one big cut after the final week of the preseason wraps.

For the 49ers, they’ll finish their preseason slate Friday night against the Las Vegas Raiders at Allegiant Stadium. They’ll then get a little time to mull their decisions.

Final cuts are due by 1:00pm Pacific Time on Tuesday, Aug. 27.

Chances are we’ll see cuts start trickling in during the days leading up to the deadline. Teams will sometimes let players go early if they know they’re not sticking around. That gives them additional days to find a new team to latch on with.

The 49ers may need every second before making some of their decisions though. They have tough choices to make on the offensive line, at linebacker, in the secondary, in the offensive backfield and the receiving corps.

There may also be two more wrenches thrown in depending on how contract talks shake out with left tackle Trent Williams and wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk. Ideally both situations will be resolved by Tuesday’s deadline. If not, the club might have to tweak how they fill out their 53-man roster to account for potentially not having one or both players in Week 1.

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Here’s every player the 49ers let go at final cuts

The #49ers on Tuesday announced their final cuts. Here’s all 27 players they waived or released:

The 49ers on Tuesday made their first major wave of roster moves in trimming their roster to the maximum 53 players.

They made a handful of moves involving injury lists that kept them from outright releasing or waiving every player necessary to get to 53.

Some players were waived. That group is made up of rookies and non-vested veterans. They’re all subject to waivers, which means they can be claimed by any team prior to Wednesday’s 9:00am Pacific Time deadline. Players who clear waivers will be unrestricted free agents.

The players given their outright release are vested veterans who aren’t subject to waivers and will become unrestricted free agents immediately.

Here’s every player officially either waived or released by San Francisco at Tuesday’s cutdown deadline:

 

Predicting rest of 49ers cuts ahead of 53-man roster announcement

Predicting the rest of the cuts the #49ers will make to get their roster to 53:

The 49ers have until Tuesday 1:00pm Pacific Time to trim their roster to the 53-player maximum. They began that process Sunday by announcing the release of five players, including three defensive linemen, a cornerback and a linebacker.

Here are the rest of the players we think will be left off the 53-man roster:

Report: 49ers to release CB Ken Crawley

Another 49ers cut is being reported.

Another early 49ers roster cut is in. Matt Barrows of the Athletic reported cornerback Ken Crawley will be let go by San Francisco prior to Tuesday’s 1:00pm Pacific deadline.

Crawley is the second CB to be cut by the 49ers, joining fellow veteran Ka’dar Hollman. The 49ers added Crawley during training camp when injuries hit the top off their CB depth chart and forced them to add some camp depth.

Perhaps there was a chance Crawley would play his way into the mix, but it’s hard to imagine he ever made a real push for a roster spot.

Crawley spent seven seasons in the NFL and played all but four of his 55 games with the Saints. He also had a brief stint with the Miami Dolphins.

The 49ers have now let go of two players in their final round of cuts.

Follow along with our cut tracker here:

49ers cut tracker: Path to the 53-man roster

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49ers roster moves: 2 placed on injured lists, 3 let go

The #49ers made their roster moves to get to 80 players:

The 49ers on Tuesday made their roster moves to get to the required 80-player threshold heading into the final preseason contest. Tuesday was also the deadline to move players from the active/PUP and active/NFI to the reserve versions of those lists. Those moves take the player off the roster and put them on a reserve list heading into the regular season.

With two players moved to injured lists the 49ers also had to let go of three players. Final cuts to get down to 53 players will be Tuesday, Aug. 30.

Here’s each move that got the 49ers to the 80-man roster.