The latest roster news has the 49ers reportedly set to activate safety Colin Jones off the practice squad to the 53-man roster. The report of that comes courtesy of his agent Ken Sarnoff. Jones was a sixth round pick out of TCU, drafted almost entirely for special teams purposes. Jones lasted all of one week in the regular season before he was waived to make room for tight end Justin Peelle.
The activation is coming reportedly due to an injury suffered by defensive end Will Tukuafu. According to Matt Barrows, Tukuafu suffered an unexplained injury that is going to land him on injured reserve shortly. I'd imagine we'll hear about that officially from the 49ers later today.
The most significant part of this news is, as Barrows posted about, the fact that Demarcus Dobbs will likely now be active on Sundays moving forward. Ricky Jean-Francois can operate in a defensive end role, but if Dobbs remained inactive, RJF would be the only backup along the defensive line.
The question is whether Dobbs will then actually see some playing time. Ray McDonald and Justin Smith are serious work-horses, with both guys handling just about every defensive snap in a given game. Throw in Aldon Smith handling a lot of nickel defensive end work and Dobbs still might not see any snaps. But at the very least he provides some intriguing depth for the line. Ideally we'll never actually have to see him on the field, but can't have enough depth at any position.