49ers Sign Thomas Clayton to 53-man roster; Move Arnaz Battle to Injured Reserve

by David Fucillo on Dec 13, 2008 12:24 PM PST in San Francisco 49ers News

Well, the first domino has dropped. The San Francisco 49ers announced today that they have signed first-year RB Thomas Clayton to the 53-man roster from the practice squad. To make room on the 53-man roster for Clayton, the 49ers placed WR Arnaz Battle on injured reserve with a foot injury.

While it's always disappointing to lose a guy to injured reserve, the upside to Battle's nagging injuries has been the continued development of the wide receivers, particularly Jason Hill.

Frank Gore remains a game-time decision.

EDITOR'S UPDATE 1:05PM: According to scoresandodds.com, Gore has been downgraded to doubtful. Rotoworld reported there was a chance Gore didn't even make the trip to Miami, but given that he's from there that would surprise me a little bit, if just to see his friends and family. Of course, if the ankle is enough of a problem a cross-country flight probably wouldn't be good for it.

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Good/bad news

I feel like this is both good and bad news. I like Battle and have come to respect his abilities as a possesion receiver, so it sucks to lose him. But our other wrs have stepped up and it won’t be as big of a drop off as it would have been a year or two ago.

As far as Gore is concerned, I hope he doesn’t do something stupid like play hurt. The season is over, and they’re only playing for pride now. No need to injure himself more. Losing Gore is a pretty big blow. But, he’s been struggling recently and yet the team has still succeeded. Not to mention I’m very excited to see what Clayton can do… I really hope if Gore is out, Clayton gets some decent play in this game.

So it sucks losing Battle for the season and possibly Gore for the game, but unlike years before, I think this team can step up and be successful without them. And we could finally see what the future holds for Clayton, which lets face it, there’s no better time than now to evaluate some younger talent.

by Sebaz49 on Dec 13, 2008 1:18 PM PST reply actions

I would rather

see what Clayton can do than send Gore out there if he is seriously hurting. We can survive losing this game better than losing Gore to further injury.

Also seeing Clayton in action helps to answer another question: do we need to spend another draft pick on a young running back this Spring?

by Grumpy Guy on Dec 13, 2008 2:22 PM PST reply actions

After watching him dominate other teams in the pre-season, I would be surprised if they would look any further at replacing him. I hope he gets some quality play time and plows over Porter to make a statement. These are statement games, right?

"We'd like to think that tickets will be hard to come by." Bill Walsh

by TripTheNinja on Dec 13, 2008 4:18 PM PST up reply actions