Niners Nation
The San Francisco 49ers have been dealing with injuries all season long and got two crucial ones in their Week 18 loss to the Seattle Seahawks as Tatum Bethune suffered a season-ending groin injury, while Dee Winters left with an ankle injury.
Winters hasn’t practiced in the first two days of the week ahead of the 49ers’ wildcard matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, and his status seems to be in doubt for the weekend.
So, that could mean the 49ers are onto their LB4 and LB5 in a must-win game on Sunday, and they’ll need some more depth. That’s why the team signed veteran linebacker Kyzir White to the practice squad earlier this week, and he could see immediate action this weekend.
San Francisco currently has only Eric Kendricks, Garrett Wallow, and Curtis Robinson as healthy linebackers on the roster right now. Luke Gifford was limited in practice on Wednesday, while Winters has now missed back-to-back days of practice, so White could even see defensive snaps this weekend.
How has he come along this week?
“He’s got familiarity with the system,” defensive coordinator Robert Saleh said about White. “He was with [assistant] Gus [Bradley] over at the Chargers, and I remember him coming out. We were hoping he’d get to the fifth, and the Chargers took him in the fourth, but one of those prototypical safeties that you could convert to a linebacker. He’s had a hell of a career for himself. And he’s ready to go. He knows our system too, so he can step in if needed to and give us minutes.”
White isn’t the only linebacker recently signed off the team, as San Francisco also added Eric Kendricks to the practice squad in late November. He played in three games for the 49ers to end the regular season, making one start.
Does anything chemistry-wise have to change with the new linebackers in the fold?
“Yeah. I think [synergy and chemistry matter],” Saleh said when asked about Kendricks and White. “Just communication, how they’re going to play different things, how they’re going to play different route concepts, the trust that someone’s going to be in an area when you’re trying to create an exchange based on coverages. But they’re two very experienced players. They’ve played a lot of football, and you trust that they’ll have it all figured out.”
A big key for the 49ers this weekend will be tackling after they had a very ugly display against the Seahawks last weekend. A part of that could be the lack of rest, as the 49ers were going off back-to-back short weeks, but they still need to be much better in that department. The linebackers will have to pick up the slack there after accounting for most of the misses last week.
“It definitely is a tough stretch, not to give anybody an out, because you’re also talking three nationally televised games with the emotions and all that stuff. But, it doesn’t matter,” Saleh said when asked...
