Niners Nation
The San Francisco 49ers promoted wide receiver Russell Gage and linebacker Curtis Robinson from the practice squad on Saturday ahead of their Week 1 matchup against the Seattle Seahawks.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan had said it was likely that Gage would be up to give the 49ers an extra receiver on gameday. San Francisco initially had Gage on the 53-man roster, but released him and signed him to the practice squad to promote recently-signed Marques Valdez-Scantling to the active roster.
Now, both will be available for the Badgers for the season opener, with Ricky Pearsall, Jauan Jennings, and Sky Moore as the other receivers as rookie Jordan Watkins was ruled doubtful with his ankle injury.
San Francisco also promoted Robinson for the game, likely for special teams. Robinson was a regular to be promoted from the practice squad last year for gamedays. The 49ers had initially released him on cutdown day, but brought him back to the practice squad once again and will now have him for Week 1.
Notably, the 49ers did not promote a running back. Running back Jordan James was ruled doubtful with his finger injury, so it would’ve made sense for San Francisco to bring up Sincere McCormick if they had questions about Christian McCaffrey’s availability.
But, with McCaffrey trending to play, the 49ers are going with just three running backs for Week 1: McCaffrey, Brian Robinson Jr., and Isaac Guerendo.
