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The San Francisco 49ers head into Sunday's game against the Dallas Cowboys with a fairly sizable question mark at right tackle. Anthony Davis is dealing with a hamstring injury, and Greg Roman did not have an update on his status for Sunday. In reality, barring a roster move, we probably will not know what Davis will be doing until Sunday morning.
If Davis can't go, the 49ers offensive line depth chart looks like this:
LT: Joe Staley
LG: Mike Iupati
C: Daniel Kilgore, Dillon Farrell
RG: Joe Looney, (Alex Boone)
RT: Jonathan Martin
Farrell could serve as the backup at all five positions, but the big question is what this means for Alex Boone. At this point, Boone is exempt from the 49ers 53-man roster. The 49ers have until Saturday afternoon to get Boone activated if they want him to play on Sunday. My guess is we see him get activated. I have a hunch he ends up starting, but that is more a strong guess than anything else. It sounds like he is in good shape, and it makes some sense to just get rid back on the saddle from Day 1.
If the 49ers activate Boone, they have to release somebody on the roster. We've had some discussion on this in other threads, and my last comment was that maybe we see Brandon Lloyd or Josh Johnson get released. I suggested them for two reasons. The first is they both are vested veterans and would not have to go through waivers. The second is they are at positions where for one game, the 49ers should be deep enough. Blaine Gabbert was dealing with a shoulder injury last week, so it is entirely possible they are not quite as deep as they would like at quarterback. However, at wide receiver, if Michael Crabtree is able to play, it could make sense to release Lloyd for the time being.
With all that in mind, how do you see the inactives playing out on Sunday? Looking through the depth chart, barring the return of Boone, I could see Josh Johnson (or Blaine Gabbert, depending on his shoulder injury), Marcus Martin, Dontae Johnson, Aaron Lynch, one of the receivers (Patton or Ellington), and maybe L.J. McCray if Jimmie Ward is the other gunner. If Anthony Davis can't play, then he becomes the seventh inactive.