![\"Brayden](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/san-francisco-49ers-v-los-angeles-rams-inglewood-california-september-17-e1788645198888.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
San Francisco 49ers tight end Brayden Willis. <\/p>\n
Going all the way across the world to Melbourne, Australia, hasn\u2019t stopped the San Francisco 49ers<\/a> from making deals ahead of Thursday\u2019s season opener against the Los Angeles Rams<\/a>.<\/p>\n On Saturday, that included parting ways with 6-foot-4, 240-pound tight end and 2023 draft pick Brayden Willis<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWaived: 49ers Brayden Willis,\u201d NFL<\/a> reporter Aaron Wilson wrote on his official X account. \u201c49ers sign Jon Weeks<\/a> to 53 along with Khalid Kareem<\/a> from practice squad, place Sam Okuayinonu<\/a> on IR.\u00a0<\/p>\n Weeks, a long snapper, was cut and placed on the practice squad on the same day \u2014 August 31 \u2014 and made the Pro Bowl for the 49ers in 2025. That honor came a full decade after his 1st Pro Bowl selection in 2015 with the Houston Texans<\/a>.<\/p>\n All-Big 12 Season Lifted Brayden Willis\u2019 Draft Stock<\/p>\n Willis returned for a 5th season at Oklahoma in 2022 and made it count with career highs of\u00a039 receptions, 514 yards, and 7 touchdowns, and was named All-Big 12.<\/p>\n The 49ers selected Willis in the 7th round (No. 247 overall), and he slightly outdid pre-draft expectations that he would be a priority free agent.<\/p>\n \u201cWillis\u2019 size and athletic profile leaves him lacking as both an in-line blocker and as a pass-catching option,\u201d NFL Draft analyst Lance Zierlein wrote<\/a> in his pre-draft evaluation. \u201cHe lacks in-line power and plays with low-burn intensity getting into blocks at times, but body control and hand strength help increase his sustain effectiveness when blocking on the move. He\u2019s tough working into traffic, but a high percentage of his catches came with nobody around him in space. He will need to prove he can separate against man coverage outside of the Oklahoma scheme.\u201d<\/p>\n Biggest Roster Question for 49ers: Tight End<\/p>\n The biggest roster question for the 49ers before their opener against the Rams is at tight end, because no one can say for sure whether or not NFL All-Pro George Kittle<\/a> will be able to play.<\/p>\n Kittle\u2019s return in the season opener would seem, on the surface, like a type of miracle. He tore his Achilles tendon in an upset win over the Philadelphia Eagles<\/a> in the NFC Wild Card Round in January.<\/p>\n Willis being waived seems to be the best evidence, to this point, that Kittle will play.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously, this could be a positive indicator for TE George Kittle to be available in the opener though if Willis is on the PS he could still be an elevation if Kittle isn\u2019t ready after practice week,\u201d ESPN\u2019s Nick Wagoner wrote<\/a> on X on Saturday.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tTony Adame<\/a> covers the NFL for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Denver Broncos, Baltimore Ravens, Buffalo Bills, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, San Francisco 49ers, and the entire NFC East Division. A veteran sports writer and editor since 2004, his work has been featured at Stadium Talk, Yardbarker, NW Florida Daily News and Pensacola News Journal. More about Tony Adame<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty San Francisco 49ers tight end Brayden Willis. Going all the way across the world to Melbourne, Australia,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":454964,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[101,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":["post-454963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco","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\/454963","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=454963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454963\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/454964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=454963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=454963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=454963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}