The San Francisco 49ers are thin at safety, but they have some other injuries of not following their first four practices. Head coach Kyle Shanahan announced on Monday that linebacker Jimmie Gilbert suffered a torn ACL on Sunday, and will have surgery. Wide receiver B.J. Johnson is dealing with a hamstring injury, and Shanahan said he could be dealing with a partial tear.
Both players were further down the depth chart (Gilbert 90-in-90, Johnson 90-in-90), so their injuries likely do not have the biggest of impacts on the eventual 53-man roster. However, the injuries could result in some roster additions. The 49ers likely will waive Gilbert with an injury designation. Other teams can claim him, but usually an injured UDFA clears waivers, and in turn reverts to the injured reserve list. Given that Gilbert has a torn ACL, he would likely spend the season on the list rather than get an injury settlement since the settlement would be an entire season’s worth of checks.
We are still waiting for word on the severity of Johnson’s hamstring injury. The 49ers could potential use the waived/injured designation on him. If he does not have a season-ending hamstring injury, the two sides could decide on an injury settlement, where the 49ers pay him X amount of weeks worth of game checks (prorated league minimum salary) and he becomes a free agent.
The 49ers could use a safety given the injuries to Jimmie Ward, Eric Reid, and Jaquiski Tartt. My guess is they will put Gilbert on IR and replace him with a safety, but we’ll likely find out more later this week. IR does not count toward the 90-man roster. The team does not have a game for another week and a half (so close!), but an extra body at safety might be helpful to keep things going during practice until the preseason opener.