{"id":448435,"date":"2026-08-31T00:22:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T00:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/448435\/"},"modified":"2026-08-31T00:22:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T00:22:10","slug":"49ers-final-53-man-roster-the-roster-gymnastics-are-underway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/448435\/","title":{"rendered":"49ers \u2018final\u2019 53-man roster: The roster gymnastics are underway"},"content":{"rendered":"

Finally, the San Francisco 49ers\u2019 53-man roster is here.<\/p>\n

Quarterbacks (3): Brock Purdy, Mac Jones, Kurtis Rourke<\/p>\n

The only question here was what the team would do with Rourke. Would he be stashed on the Injured Reserve, or make the roster? That question was answered. Rourke was healthy enough to make the roster.<\/p>\n

Running backs(4): Christian McCaffrey, Kaelon Black, Jordan James, Kyle Juszczyk<\/p>\n

With Isaac Guerendo landing on the PUP<\/a> and the top three backs returning to practice, there were no real surprises as to who made the roster.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s worth noting that the 49ers had Jordan James covering punts and kicks in the preseason finale. Perhaps that was to see how he fared and whether he could handle the role. Kaelon Black did not play special teams, which is a sign he\u2019s the RB2, if there was ever any doubt.<\/p>\n

Wide receivers (6): Mike Evans, Deebo Samuel, De\u2019Zhaun Stribling, Jacob Cowing, Demarcus Robinson, Jordan Watkins<\/p>\n

Cowing secured a job with an 83-yard punt return in Week 2 of the preseason. The next question was whether Jordan Watkins would stay and whether Christian Kirk would become an IR stash.<\/p>\n

The 49ers kept Watkins and Cowing. I wonder if Watkins will cover kicks or be the kickoff returner. That\u2019s a role where Deebo excels.<\/p>\n

Tight ends(4): George Kittle, Luke Farrell, Jake Tonges, Brayden Willis<\/p>\n

Good \u2018ol Mike Florio woke up on Sunday morning trying to agitate the masses, only for Adam Schefter to shoot it down and say Kittle is still in line to play in Week 1.<\/p>\n

Kittle returning is massive for the 49ers. Everybody knows what he means to the offense.<\/p>\n

Willis making the roster in Week 1 feels like a hedge in the event Kittle isn\u2019t ready.<\/p>\n

Offensive line (9): Trent Williams, Carver Willis, Jake Brendel, Dominick Puni, Colton McKivitz, Jarrett Patterson, Vederian Lowe, Enrique Cruz Jr., Connor Colby<\/p>\n

The Patterson trade<\/a> is being chalked up as a depth signing, but he has more experience than Carver Willis and has spent multiple seasons playing in the Niners\u2019 scheme under Bobby Slowik. I wonder if the team will give Patterson a look as a starter if they feel like Willis isn\u2019t ready. Even if he is, Patterson is an option down the line.<\/p>\n

The other question was what the 49ers would do with Connor Colby and Enrique Cruz. Vederian Lowe\u2019s health could\u2019ve potentially sealed Cruz\u2019s fate, while the same is true for Brett Toth and Colby. Toth will begin the season on the IR<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Defensive line (9): Nick Bosa, Osa Odighizuwa, Alfred Collins, Sam Okuayinonu, Romello Height, Gracen Halton, CJ West, Keion White, James Thompson Jr.<\/p>\n

The first two names on this list are going to do a lot of the heavy lifting this season for the 49ers. This team may go as those two do. The rest of the group is largely young and inexperienced. We\u2019ll quickly find out who can and cannot play, and how much seasoning they need before they\u2019re ready.<\/p>\n

Good for Thompson Jr., by the way. He had the fifth-highest win percentage in the preseason among all defensive tackles in true pass sets at 30 percent. Thompson Jr. made the most of his opportunity. He is a mountain of a man who should contribute as a role player as he learns under Kris Kocurek.<\/p>\n

The defensive tackle rotation figures to be fluid for a while.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll see if the team re-signs Ogbo Okonkwo if they feel they cannot add another body at the position after waivers settle.<\/p>\n

Linebackers (7): Fred Warner, Dre Greenlaw, Jaden Dugger, Luke Gifford, Tatum Bethune, Garret Wallow, Nick Martin<\/p>\n

Nick Martin and Luke Gifford were the question marks at this spot. Both are battling injuries. We haven\u2019t seen Gifford since the first week of August, while Martin\u2019s injury happened late in the second preseason game.<\/p>\n

The question was whether the team would place both Martin and Gifford on IR and use their roster spots for another linebacker. The 49ers kept both on the roster \u2014 for now. Don\u2019t be surprised if they land on the IR at some point this week.<\/p>\n

Bethune feels like a core special-teamer. Kyle Shanahan raved about him last year when Bethune was in for Fred Warner. He\u2019s a great run defender.<\/p>\n

Cornerbacks (7): Renardo Green, Deommodore Lenoir, Upton Stout, Jack Jones, Ephesians Prysock, Nate Hobbs, Siran Neal<\/p>\n

What you see is what you get with the 49ers cornerbacks. This group was relatively set in stone, barring a Jakob Robinson or Siran Neal making it. Neal means too much to the special teams.<\/p>\n

However, Nate Hobbs making the roster means the Niners weren\u2019t willing to give up on him, despite missing all of training camp and the preseason. I wouldn\u2019t be shocked to see Hobbs and Prysock placed on the IR this week.<\/p>\n

Safety(3): Ji\u2019Ayir Brown, Marques Sigle, Malik Mustapha<\/p>\n

Copy and paste from above, but there weren\u2019t any options outside of Ashtyn Davis, who will live on special teams. However, he was released.<\/p>\n

When will we see Malik? The safety competition never materialized after Mustapha missed most of the month. He wasn\u2019t a lock to start, for what it\u2019s worth. Mustapha was in the rotation.<\/p>\n

Specials(1): Eddy Pineiro<\/p>\n

If they perform as they did in the preseason, the 49ers\u2019 combination of punter and kicker has a chance to be the best it\u2019s been under this regime.<\/p>\n

The 49ers waived punter Corliss Waitman and long snapper Jon Weeks. They\u2019ve done this move before. It\u2019s another way to ensure players they don\u2019t want to risk losing on the waiver wire stay on the roster. We can expect both players to re-sign and be on the team by Monday. Neither player is subject to waivers.<\/p>\n

There are a handful of IR candidates the 49ers can use to make room for Waitman and Weeks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Finally, the San Francisco 49ers\u2019 53-man roster is here. Quarterbacks (3): Brock Purdy, Mac Jones, Kurtis Rourke The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":448436,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[101,8376,3323,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":["post-448435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-49ers-news","tag-san-francisco-49ers-roster","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=448435"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448435\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/448436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=448435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=448435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=448435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}