49ers OT Jonas Jennings placed on injured reserve

The 49ers just announced that they officially placed Jonas Jennings on injured reserve.  It seemed like he was getting back into game shape, but the pain apparently was too much.  Jennings wanted to avoid having surgery at any cost, but according to GM Scot McCloughan:

“Jonas did everything in his power to get back from the injury, and he was cleared to return to practice as long as he wore a harness,” said general manager Scot McCloughan. “It was a matter of pain tolerance, but he wasn’t going to be 100% without surgery. We discussed it with Jonas and our medical team and all parties agreed that it would be the best thing for Jonas, and his future, to go ahead and have the surgery now.”

Barry Sims originally replaced Jennings but he injured himself and that led to Adam Snyder moving into the right tackle position.

“I think Snyder is working his tail off,” said Mike Singletary. “Snyder is doing a good job. He’s done the things that we’ve asked him do. Right now, Snyder is the guy.”

If Snyder can continue to impress, maybe we'll finally be settled at right tackle for the foreseeable future.  Either way, I think Jennings is probably finished with the 49ers.  He signed a big deal and has not been able to overcome numerous injuries over the years.  As long as the team has the salary cap space to take the hit, they might as well cut him after this season instead of continually rolling the dice with him going forward.

EDITOR'S UPDATE 3:18PM: To replace Jennings on the 53-man roster, the 49ers signed OT Jacob Bender off the New England Patriots practice squad.  Bender (6-6, 315) was originally selected by the New York Jets in the sixth round of the 2007 draft out of Nicholls State. He saw action in two games for the Jets as a rookie on special teams as a lineman in field goal formations and was inactive for 14 contests. Bender was waived by the Jets following training camp in 2008 and was then signed to the New England Patriots practice squad.