Injuries could shake up special teams on 49ers depth chart

The San Francisco 49ers PR department released their unofficial Week 8 depth chart on Tuesday afternoon. A Tuesday release meant Adrian Colbert to IR and the signing of Tom Savage are reflected in the depth chart.

This is entirely unofficial, but it does give us one notable talking point. D.J. Reed is now listed as the starting free safety, as one would expect with Colbert’s injury. What I found interesting was the decision to move him from No. 1 kick returner to No. 2 kick returner. Rookie Richie James has replaced him in the No. 1 spot.

Such a change on an unofficial depth chart could mean nothing, but given that Reed is getting first crack at the starting free safety job, it would make sense that the coaching staff would prefer to keep him out of a high impact special teams position like kick returner.

Injuries can happen in a variety of ways, but with James active fairly regularly now and Reed potentially moving into the starting lineup, it would not surprise me to see James returning kicks this Sunday against the Cardinals.

One transaction of note that does not appear on the depth chart. The 49ers signed wide receiver Aaron Burbridge to their practice squad on Tuesday. The team placed him on injured reserve at the end of training camp this year, and then waived him with an injury settlement.

His return could mean a couple things. The first is the banged-up wide receiver corps. The 49ers are dealing with a host of injuries there and could use bodies. The second, and more likely reason, is Tarvarius Moore potentially getting more cornerback snaps. As Matt Barrows noted, Moore is one of their gunners on special teams, and Burbridge has significant experience in that role. If Moore plays more cornerback in the coming weeks, the team might use him less on special teams. If that’s the case, Burbridge can slot right into the role.