The 49ers signed defensive lineman Victor Dimukeje and offensive lineman Nick Zakelj to one-year deals, the team announced Monday.
In corresponding moves, the team released running back Khalil Herbert and offensive lineman Kion Smith. Herbert signed with the team Aug. 2 and Smith on Aug. 6.
Dimukeje, 26, entered the NFL as a sixth-round pick of the Cardinals in 2021. He played four years in Arizona before going to the Giants last offseason.
He has appeared in 60 games with eight starts and has totaled 51 tackles, four sacks, two passes defensed and two forced fumbles.
In 2025, Dimukeje appeared in five games with the Giants and registered one tackle and one pass defensed.
The 49ers made Zakelj a sixth-round pick in 2022. In four seasons, he has appeared in 29 games with two starts.
In 2025, Zakelj spent time on San Francisco’s practice squad and appeared in three games. The 49res cut him on Aug. 10.
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Khalil Herbert’s stay in San Francisco was a short one.
Herbert, the veteran running back who signed with the 49ers two weeks ago, is being released, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.
That would indicate the 49ers are satisfied with their health and depth at running back, where the group is talented but dealing with multiple injuries. Herbert had six carries for 18 yards and two catches for 35 yards in last week’s preseason game, but he’ll be buried deep on the depth chart if all the other running backs on the roster are healthy.
The 28-year-old Herbert was a 2021 sixth-round pick of the Bears who spent four years in Chicago before he was traded to the Bengals. He has also spent time on the Colts, Seahawks and Jets. Now he’ll hope some other team is looking for a veteran running back.
Playing in Australia to start the regular season, the Rams have added a punter from down under.
Los Angeles announced on Monday that the club has signed Jack Bouwmeester.
Bouwmeester does not count against the 90-man roster, as he is the club’s international player exemption.
After playing college ball at Michigan State, Utah, and Texas from 2019-2025, Bouwmeester went undrafted in the spring and signed with the 49ers as a college free agent.
San Francisco waived him last week.
The official word is that 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey has missed a week of practice due to “tightness.” Some think McCaffrey is simply trying to loosen Jed York’s wallet.
There’s speculation in league circles that McCaffrey has tapped the brakes on his practice time in an effort to get an adjustment to his contract, which pays out a non-guaranteed $12.5 million in 2026.
The timeline fits the hypothesis. Days after Falcons running back Bijan Robinson and Lions running back Jaymyr Gibbs pushed the new-money APY to $22.5 million per year, McCaffrey stopped practicing.
McCaffrey, now 30, has perhaps one more bite at the apple in his career. He had a league-leading 413 touches in 2025, and he’s expected to be a major cog in the offense again. For $12.5 million in return.
As Simms mentioned on Monday’s PFT Live, there was a thought last year that McCaffrey wanted a sweetener before the season started. That didn’t happen. If he wanted one then, he’ll want one now — especially after how much he contributed to a team that scrambled to hold things together through another rash of injuries.
This year’s rash of injuries includes McCaffrey, if he’s truly injured. If he’s simply avoiding practice in order to keep himself healthy, it’s smart business.
He doesn’t need to be going all out for now. Especially if he’s looking for a bump in his pay and some financial security for 2026 and beyond.
49ers tight end George Kittle is on the active/physically unable to perform list. He has confidence he won’t be moved to the reserve/PUP list at the start of the season.
“Very confident,” Kittle said Sunday, via David Bonilla of 49erswebzone.com. “Sooner than later.”
Kittle would miss at least the first four games if he isn’t activated back to the active roster on Aug. 30. He continues to target the season opener for his return.
“I’m just going to keep that as my goal, and then we’ll adjust from there if we need to,” Kittle said. “But I still believe that. My team still believes that. My surgeon still believes I have a chance. So, just keep attacking it.”
Kittle tore his right Achilles in a Jan. 11 playoff game against the Eagles. He underwent surgery three days later, with Rams team physician Dr. Neal ElAttrache repairing Kittle’s Achilles.
Kittle confirmed he has a timeline for returning to practice, but declined to provide details.
“Like I’ve said, I have a chance [to play Week 1],” Kittle said. “We’re running around a lot, hitting top speeds. Hopefully, we’re back in pads, practicing sooner than later. Just trying to check the boxes and not be a dumbass, is what I would say.”
He said the next two weeks will “let me know if I’m ready to play Week 1 or not.” Kittle added that he will have to practice in pads before the season opener to play against the Rams.
Kittle made his seventh career Pro Bowl last season despite playing only 11 regular-season games due to hamstring and ankle injuries.
49ers running back Christian McCaffrey first missed practice on Monday, with his absence generally (and vaguely) attributed to “tightness.” Nearly a week later, he’s still not practicing.
Via Cam Inman of the Bay Area News Group, McCaffrey wasn’t practicing again on Sunday.
When the current string of DNPs started, coach Kyle Shanahan downplayed the situation. Which brings back memories of two years ago, when McCaffrey’s calf injury was downplayed throughout camp — and when he surprisingly appeared on the inactive list for the first game of the regular season and ultimately didn’t play until Week 10 due to an Achilles injury.
In 2025, McCaffrey led the league with 413 regular-season touches in 17 games. At 30, McCaffrey is already pushing the age envelope for tailbacks. He has had 2,284 regular season touches in nine NFL seasons.
For now, the 49ers may simply be protecting McCaffrey from himself. At some point, it will be fair to wonder whether it’s something more than proactive maintenance. Especially since the same scenario played out in 2024.
Defensive tackle Vita Vea remains at odds with the Buccaneers over his contract and thus is not practicing. He wants a trade. The Buccaneers insist they aren’t trading him.
Mike Garafolo of NFL Media reports that the Bills, 49ers and Bears are among the teams who have called the Bucs about Vea.
Vea requested a trade ahead of training camp after spending the offseason seeking a new contract.
Philadelphia’s Jalen Carter, Dallas’ Quinnen Williams and Tennessee’s Jeffery Simmons all have signed extensions recently, with Carter now at the top of the defensive tackle market at $38 million annually. Williams ($35.3 million per season) and Simmons ($35.276 million) are close behind.
Vea now ranks 16th with an annual average of $17.75 million.
He is entering the final year of his deal, set to make $17 million in base salary.
New 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel’s new number will be the same as old 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel’s old number.
Samuel will officially wear the No. 19 jersey, the NFL’s transaction report confirmed today. That’s no surprise, as it’s the number he had been wearing in practice.
A 2019 second-round pick of the 49ers, Samuel wore No. 19 for his first five seasons in San Francisco before switching to No. 1, which he wore both in high school and at South Carolina, in 2024. He stayed No. 1 last year with the Commanders, but now he’s back in San Francisco and back to his original jersey number.
Before Samuel arrived, 49ers wide receiver Jacob Cowing had been wearing No. 19. Cowing is now wearing No. 6.
49ers cornerback Nate Hobbs will miss some time with a groin injury.
San Francisco head coach Kyle Shanahan confirmed that Hobbs suffered the injury during a joint practice with the Titans. Hobbs will miss a few weeks.
Hobbs signed a one-year contract with the 49ers in March, shortly after he was released by the Packers.
The 27-year-old Hobbs was a 2021 fifth-round pick of the Raiders who spent four seasons in Las Vegas before going to Green Bay last year.
Before Super Bowl LX between the Seahawks and the Patriots, New England legend Tom Brady rankled his former team’s fans (and some current and former Patriots players), by declaring that he didn’t have a “dog in the fight.”
Former teammate and current Patriots coach Mike Vrabel wasn’t bothered by the remark.
“Clearly Tom’s gone out of his way to make it known that he’s trying to, you know — he has a new job and a new role and, you know, it is really what it is,” Vrabel told WEEI on Friday. “Tom’s a friend, he’ll always be a friend. He was a former teammate, but, I mean, he’s made it clear, like, ‘I’m doing something new now.’”
Vrabel was also asked about another issue that emerged in recent weeks, due to Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald’s comment to Dan Patrick that Macdonald consulted with someone before the game who had “some conflict of interest.” Although Macdonald was not referring to Brady, Vrabel was asked whether he believes Brady talked to Macdonald before the game.
“Probably,” Vrabel said. “He hired his offensive coordinator. I mean, that’s not why we lost the game. Like, we talked to a lot of people, and, you know, there’s a lot of film, and it’s not why we lost the game. . . . I mean, I’m sure they talked.”
The connection to former Seatle offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak always made it plausible that Brady would have tried to help the Seahawks. With Kubiak slated to take over the Raiders, it was better for the Raiders if Kubiak arrived as the coordinator of the offense of the team that won the most recent championship. And Vrabel understands that.
Brady is an owner of the Raiders. He’s in competition with the Patriots. If anything, Brady did have a dog in the fight. The Seahawks and Kubiak winning provided an incremental benefit to the franchise Brady now partially owns.
