In some of the least surprising news of the season, the San Francisco 49ers officially promoted wide receiver Joe Hastings from the practice squad to the 53-man roster. The 49ers released Braylon Edwards earlier this week and waited until today to make the decision official. The rumors have been swirling since John Matthews told beat writers Hastings was going to get promoted. Since then, every press conference involving Jim Harbaugh, Greg Roman and Alex Smith has featured at least one question about Hastings.
The 49ers signed Joe Hastings on July 27, 2011 as an undrafted rookie free agent out of Washburn. He was part of the last roster cuts and signed to the practice squad on September 4, where has been the entire season. The 49ers made some changes to how the practice squad operates this season, with the squad traveling on the road with the rest of the team and getting more involved in team meetings throughout the week. Whether that makes a difference in chemistry and whatnot remains to be seen, but it's an interesting change.
It will be interesting to see how the wide receivers behind Michael Crabtree are utilized tomorrow. Ted Ginn and Kyle Williams are both listed as questionable, with neither getting any official practice time in. Although Ginn still has an ankle issue, he has been doing some running and cutting with the trainers. He will get a chance to test his ankle before tomorrow's game to see if he can play. As for Williams, there is no word on his clearance level yet, so we'll have to wait and see what happens with the inactive list tomorrow morning.