49ers CB Josh Norman Unlikely To Play On Sunday
Despite suffering a brutal chest injury last weekend, 49ers cornerback Josh Norman was still hoping that he’d be able to play this weekend. However, head coach Kyle Shanahan tempered expectations during yesterday’s press conference.
“Right now, I’ll see how it is when I talk to the doctors today, but I would pretty much think it’s pretty doubtful,” Shanahan said (h/t to 49erswebzone.com). “We’re hoping he can get out there. He’s trying to condition. Any time you get an injury like that when it’s in your lungs area and stuff like that, when you do heal up, you’ve got to get your stamina back. You’ve got to get your breath back. Any time you mess with the lungs, it’s a little bit scary for anybody, let alone an athlete, out there working hard and doing stuff like that. We’ll be able to condition him the most today that we’ve been able to in the last five days, and if he responds real well, then I think he’ll have a chance. So, hopefully, we have a good day today.”
The veteran had to go to the hospital last weekend after reportedly spitting up blood. He was later diagnosed with bruised lungs and tissue damage.
Norman caught on with the 49ers right before the start of the regular season. He’s started two games this year, collecting three tackles and one forced fumble. The 33-year-old got into nine games for the Bills in 2020. Before that, Norman was one of the best corners in the league. His best work came during his time with the Panthers. He dominated in 2015, playing a key role in their run to Super Bowl 50. He intercepted four passes that year, taking two back for touchdowns. It remains one of the best contract-year performances in modern NFL history.
Latest On 49ers Quarterbacks
The 49ers (especially head coach Kyle Shanahan) have continually said that there isn’t a QB competition in San Francisco. Shanhan reiterated that point today when asked about the coaching staff’s willingness to get rookie Trey Lance more involved in the offense.
[RELATED: Latest On Trey Lance, 49ers QB “Competition”]
“There’s not a quarterback battle right now,” the coach said (via ESPN’s Nick Wagoner on Twitter). “We’re going with our starting quarterback who I think is playing very well. I’m happy that he is so Trey is not thrown into any situations he has to do too early.”
Shanahan’s starter is Jimmy Garoppolo, who has completed 67.4-percent of his passes for 760 yards and four touchdowns (vs. only one interception) for the 2-1 49ers. Lance, the third-overall pick in this year’s draft, has seen the field for only seven total snaps. However, two of those snaps have resulted in touchdowns, including a crucial score during his team’s loss to the Packers the other night.
Considering the draft capital that the organization invested in Lance, the North Dakota State product will surely take over at center eventually. However, until Garoppolo does something to lose his role, the rookie will remain the second QB on the depth chart.
“Trey’s our backup quarterback,” Shanahan said (via Yahoo’s Jason Owens). “This isn’t the preseason. We’re not just going back and forth all the time. Trey goes in for specific plays or things we want to do.”
49ers Plan To Sign CB Buster Skrine
With longtime slot cornerback K’Waun Williams going down Sunday night, the 49ers plan to sign veteran Buster Skrine, Adam Caplan of Sirius XM Radio tweets.
Skrine has enjoyed a 10-year career, playing with the Browns, Jets and Bears, working mostly as a slot corner. The 49ers are reeling at corner, having seen several key players suffer injuries in recent weeks.
The Ravens auditioned Skrine earlier this month. Otherwise, it has been a quiet 2021 for the veteran inside cover man. Skrine, 32, succeeded Bryce Callahan in the slot for the Bears and has been a regular on defenses since his 2011 rookie season. He is set to join a 49ers coverage corps that lost Jason Verrett for the season and lost Williams to a calf strain in Week 3. The 49ers also played part of Sunday’s game without recently acquired boundary defender Josh Norman. An injury also delayed Emmanuel Moseley‘s season debut by two weeks.
San Francisco has added Norman and Dre Kirkpatrick in recent weeks. The team made the latter a healthy scratch for Week 3, but its latest batch of injuries will likely bump Kirkpatrick back to active duty. Williams, who played with Skrine in 2014 in Cleveland, has been San Francisco’s slot corner since 2017. Rookie Deommodore Lenoir replaced Williams on Sunday.
A former fifth-round pick, Skrine has logged 151 games since arriving in the NFL during the lockout-marred offseason. Skrine’s Browns run ended in 2014, when Kyle Shanahan was Cleveland’s offensive coordinator. Although Skrine was an in-demand free agent in both the 2015 and ’19 offseasons, the Bears cut him shortly before releasing Kyle Fuller amid this year’s salary cap crunch. Skrine graded as Pro Football Focus’ No. 92 overall corner last season.
Minor NFL Transactions: 9/25/21
The weekly Saturday bunch of minor moves:
Atlanta Falcons
- Promoted: WR Juwan Green
Baltimore Ravens
- Promoted: LB Josh Bynes, DL Reginald McKenzie, CB Kevon Seymour, T Andre Smith
Chicago Bears
- Promoted: DL Margus Hunt
Cincinnati Bengals
- Promoted: S Sean Davis
Cleveland Browns
- Promoted: TE Jordan Franks
Detroit Lions
- Promoted: K Ryan Santoso
- Placed on IR: DE Kevin Strong
Indianapolis Colts
- Promoted: WR DeMichael Harris, QB Brett Hundley
Jacksonville Jaguars
- Promoted: WR Phillip Dorsett
Las Vegas Raiders
- Promoted: RB Trey Ragas
Los Angeles Chargers
- Promoted: OLB Emeke Egbule, DL Joe Gaziano
Los Angeles Rams
- Promoted: DB Tyler Hall, RB Buddy Howell
Minnesota Vikings
- Promoted: RB Ameer Abdullah, G Dakota Dozier, CB Parry Nickerson
- Waived: T Blake Brandel
New England Patriots
- Promoted: LB Jahlani Tavai
New York Giants
- Promoted: WR C.J. Board, C Jonotthan Harrison
- Placed on IR: LB Cam Brown
New York Jets
- Promoted: OL Isaiah Williams
San Francisco 49ers
- Placed on IR: DL Kevin Givens
Seattle Seahawks
- Promoted: DT Robert Nkemdiche, WR Cody Thompson
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Promoted: CB Rashard Robinson, TE Deon Yelder
Tennessee Titans
- Promoted: FB Tory Carter, DL Woodrow Hamilton
49ers Elevate RB Kerryon Johnson
The 49ers’ running back carousel keeps spinning. Kerryon Johnson will be the latest to move up to the team’s active roster, and he will replace JaMycal Hasty.
Signed to San Francisco’s practice squad last week, Johnson will rise to the 49ers’ 55-man gameday roster. Hasty suffered a high ankle sprain in the 49ers’ Week 2 win. He will join Raheem Mostert and Jeff Wilson as unavailable San Francisco backs, with the former out for the season and the latter on the PUP list.
With Hasty out for at least three games, the 49ers do not have a halfback on their active roster who was with them last season. Jerick McKinnon and Tevin Coleman are elsewhere. The 49ers also are not expected to have new starter Elijah Mitchell against the Packers. The sixth-round rookie is doubtful with a shoulder injury. Trey Sermon, however, has cleared concussion protocol and may be in line to start. The 49ers also claimed XFL alum Jacques Patrick off the Bengals’ practice squad. Johnson will join these two and Trenton Cannon on the team’s active roster.
A former second-round pick, Johnson has been part of a few transactions this year. The Lions waived him this offseason, and the Eagles added him with a waiver claim. An injury settlement led to Johnson’s Philadelphia exit.
Knee trouble has plagued the former Auburn standout. Johnson did average 5.4 yards per carry as a rookie with the Lions, totaling 854 scrimmage yards in just 10 games. While Johnson stayed healthy in 2020, the Lions had effectively moved on by signing Adrian Peterson and drafting D’Andre Swift in Round 2. The 49ers will give the fourth-year veteran another chance.
Latest On 49ers' RB Situation
- The Packers are likely to be severely shorthanded on their O-line in San Francisco. Elgton Jenkins, who has filled in for PUP list-stationed David Bakhtiari at left tackle, is doubtful to face the 49ers because of an ankle issue. Green Bay will likely be forced to use its third left tackle option against the 49ers, who feature Nick Bosa as their primary blindside rusher. The Packers signed Dennis Kelly this offseason, giving them a potential option at right tackle in the event they slide right-side starter Billy Turner to left tackle.
- Between their practice squad and active roster, the 49ers have seven running backs. That total balloons to nine if Raheem Mostert (IR) and Jeff Wilson (PUP) are included, and San Francisco’s backfield will be missing more pieces Sunday. Due to injuries sustained in Week 2, Elijah Mitchell and JaMycal Hasty are respectively doubtful and out for Sunday night’s game. On the bright side, third-round rookie Trey Sermon has cleared concussion protocol. Despite beginning the season as a healthy scratch, Sermon should be expected to start, Matt Barrows of The Athletic tweets. The 49ers have Trenton Cannon and recent addition Jacques Patrick, an XFL alum the 49ers added off the Bengals’ practice squad, on their active roster and Kerryon Johnson and Josh Hokit on their practice squad.
49ers Won’t Rule Out Richard Sherman
Could Richard Sherman return to SF? When speaking with reporters, 49ers GM John Lynch wouldn’t rule out the possibility (via Cam Inman of the San Jose Mercury News). 
“He handled himself incredibly well,” Lynch said of Sherman, who has not been signed since his off-the-field incident in July. “He had a momentary lapse and has to be held accountable for that; he understands that. He also has a decade of doing good for people and overcoming challenges.”
This jibes with recent word that Sherman is a possibility for the Niners, as well as the Buccaneers and Seahawks. Still, Lynch doesn’t sound like he’s ready to put a deal on the table just yet.
“We’re good with where we are at [with our cornerbacks right now],” Lynch said. “Who knows? We could need him down the road. Most of all, I’m pulling for him and his family. He’s going to overcome this and do great things.”
Sherman, 33, was a Seahawks a cap casualty in 2018. That brought him to the Niners, where he turned in a so-so 2018 and a strong 2019. That year, he earned a second-team All-Pro nod while helping the 49ers to a Super Bowl appearance. A calf injury kept Sherman out of eleven games last year, but the accomplished cover man is said to be in good shape. He may still have a suspension on the horizon, but he’ll likely land a deal sometime this year.
49ers HC Confirms Team’s Past Interest In QB Aaron Rodgers
The 49ers were consistently connected to Aaron Rodgers during the early parts of the quarterback’s standoff with the Packers. Today, 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan acknowledged that his team had reached out to the Packers about a potential trade.
“I thought it’d be a quick no,” Shanahan told (via Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk). “Which was exactly what I thought it would be. But you hear enough stuff and I think everyone knew what was going on at that time that it didn’t seem like it [wasn’t] worth the call, but I know how we would’ve felt if it was going to happen and we didn’t call. So, you call, you get a quick answer which what was what you’re expecting and then you move on.”
We previously heard that the 49ers were on Rodgers’ wish list, and the Packers even accused the 49ers of tampering after the team reached out directly to the QB. In other words, it’s not a huge surprise that the 49ers had approached the Packers about a trade, but Shanahan’s confirmation is a nice touch.
Ultimately, the 49ers decided to go in a different direction, as they went all in on a trade for third-overall pick Trey Lance. Jimmy Garoppolo remains the starter in San Francisco, but the team will eventually hand over the reigns to the North Dakota State product.
Shanahan will get a front row seat to ‘what could have been’ this weekend, as the 49ers take on Rodgers and the Packers on Sunday evening.
NFL Practice Squad Updates: 9/22/21
Keeping tabs on today’s taxi squad moves:
Arizona Cardinals
- Signed: DB Mazzi Wilkins
Dallas Cowboys
- Signed: CB Holton Hill
Denver Broncos
- Signed: LB Pita Taumoepenu
New England Patriots
- Signed: C Jake Eldrenkamp
New York Giants
- Signed: C Jonotthan Harrison, OL Foster Sarell
- Released: RB Dexter Williams
San Francisco 49ers
- Signed: DL Eddie Yarbrough
- Released: TE Jordan Matthews
Tennessee Titans
- Signed: DL Andrew Brown
49ers Add RB Chris Thompson To P-Squad
With major injury issues at running back, the 49ers continue to bring in outside talent at the position. They are adding former Washington back Chris Thompson to their practice squad.
Thompson’s Washington stint lasted long enough he has a history with Kyle Shanahan. Washington drafted the pass-catching back in the 2013 fifth round, when the current 49ers HC remained Washington’s offensive coordinator. The eight-year veteran will now join the 49ers, who have seen injuries inject considerable uncertainty into their backfield.
Thompson, 30, spent last season with the Jaguars but did not factor into their offense much during James Robinson‘s standout rookie season. The 49ers are without Raheem Mostert for the rest of the season and have Jeff Wilson on the reserve/PUP list. Elijah Mitchell, Trey Sermon and JaMycal Hasty battling injuries. Mitchell and Hasty, who are respectively dealing with shoulder and ankle maladies, did not practice Wednesday. Sermon suffered a concussion in his NFL debut Sunday.
Washington used Thompson as its passing-down back for several years, with the Florida State product initially supplementing Alfred Morris before ending his D.C. career playing alongside Adrian Peterson and Derrius Guice in 2019. Thompson eclipsed 700 scrimmage yards in two seasons and earned an extension in 2017. The veteran backup auditioned for the Bears this week but will end up heading to San Francisco.
The 49ers now have eight running backs on their active roster and practice squad combined. Kerryon Johnson and Josh Hokit reside on the team’s taxi squad, while ex-Bengals practice squad cog Jacques Patrick is now on the 49ers’ 53-man roster, joining Trenton Cannon.