The San Francisco 49ers face a continued question at right tackle. Head coach Kyle Shanahan announced on Wednesday that Trent Brown will not practice, and remains a question mark for Sunday.
The 49ers announced the signing of center/guard Tim Barnes earlier in the day, and that made me initially think that not signing a tackle suggested Brown would be able to play. Erik Magnuson went on injured reserve, leaving the 49ers with just Zane Beadles and Darrell Williams as tackle options. Shanahan’s comments suggest Beadles would be next man up at right tackle.
“[Trent Brown]’s not going to practice today, so I’m still not sure on that. But a lot of things go into that. You gotta look into if he couldn’t play, who would we start at right tackle, who would be his backup. Just to kind of give you a hint, guys that we would use there might be the only guys on our team who can snap a ball. So we need backup centers also. You’ve gotta dress seven guys, maybe eight — which will hurt another position — but you try to dress seven guys on game day, and you need a starting tackle, you need a backup tackle, and you need a backup center. And Barnes can do that.”
The hint he is trying to drop is likely referring to Zane Beadles, who is the team’s backup center at this point. If Brown cannot go, Beadles likely would take over at right tackle, and Barnes would be the team’s backup center. If Brown is able to go, Barnes would be inactive on Sunday. Even if Brown clears the final injury report on Friday, my guess is they will wait and see what Sunday brings given the last minute nature of his deactivation last week.