49ers defensive end Nick Bosa has not practiced since Aug. 3 with soreness and tendinitis in his surgically repaired right knee.
49ers coach Kyle Shanahan did not provide a timeline for Bosa on Tuesday.
“He’s making a lot of progress,” Shanahan said, via David Bonilla of 49erswebzone.com. “He has a lot less irritation, soreness, and tendinitis—whatever you want to call it—than he had last week. So we think he’s going in the right direction, and we see him similar to Christian [McCaffrey].”
Bosa injured his knee in a Sept. 21 game against the Cardinals and underwent surgery Sept. 26.
Bosa, 28, has not had a double-digit sack season since 2023, which is the last time he played all 17 games. He has played only 17 games over the past two seasons, totaling 11 sacks.
49ers Clips
49ers wide receiver Mike Evans exited Tuesday’s joint practice early. He had his left foot/ankle initially wrapped in ice, according to multiple reports, but later had only his quad wrapped in an ice pack.
“They just said he has some tightness, so we were just being smart, taking him out,” 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said, via David Bonilla of 49erswebzone.com. “I don’t think it’s anything worse, so we’ll see when we get in there, but nothing that I’m worried about right now.”
Evans strained a quadriceps in the Aug. 1 practice and didn’t return until Aug. 15.
Wide receiver Christian Kirk, meanwhile, still isn’t back at practice after straining his calf midway through the first training camp practice.
“That’s been unfortunate for him because he had the same thing in OTAs, so he missed that,” Shanahan said. “And he hasn’t been ready to go. He did it the first practice, before we even got to team periods, so I know he’s been extremely frustrated with it.
“We love the guy so far, but hopefully, he can have some better luck going forward here so he gets some reps out here.”
49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan sought to end speculation that running back Christian McCaffrey is holding-in for a better contract after Tuesday’s joint practice with the Chargers.
Shanahan told reporters in his press conference that there is no contract-related issue between McCaffrey and the team.
“I think they make a lot of assumptions and that would be one that they’re wrong on,” Shanahan said, via Nick Wagoner of ESPN. “I think if it wasn’t Christian and we were in a game week, I think he would play today.”
McCaffrey, who turned 30 in June, has been out of practice while dealing with tightness. The 49ers have not specified where the tightness is occurring.
But with McCaffrey’s injury history and his production from last season, it makes sense that the running back has been held out of practice at this point of the preseason. McCaffrey registered a career-high 413 touches in 17 regular-season games last season, a figure that also led the league. He then had 37 more in the club’s two postseason games.
McCaffrey last registered over 400 regular-season touches in 2019 when he finished the year with over 1,000 yards rushing and 1,000 yards receiving. But he played just 10 games combined over the next two seasons.
In 2023, McCaffrey had a combined 417 touches between the regular and postseason for the 49ers. He then played just four games for the team in 2024.
We’ll see if McCaffrey’s tightness extends into the regular season. But until then, the running back’s history and age give San Francisco reason to be cautious with his preseason utilization.
Both the 49ers and Chargers have seen wide receivers leave Tuesday’s joint practice early.
Nick Wagoner of ESPN.com reports that 49ers wideout Mike Evans had his left ankle/foot wrapped and iced before the session came to an end while multiple reporters noted that Chargers receiver Quentin Johnston limped off of the field. Evans missed a good chunk of camp with a quad injury before returning to the field in the last week.
Chargers center Tyler Biadasz was carted off with an apparent leg injury during the workout as well.
The two teams will face each other in a preseason game on Thursday night and both sides will be hoping that there’s no further additions to the injury list before the week is out.
The 49ers waived defensive lineman Evan Anderson in July, but they brought him back to the team on Tuesday.
They announced Anderson’s signing and created space for him on the active roster by waiving defensive lineman Titus Leo. Leo was let go with an injury designation.
Anderson signed with the 49ers after going undrafted in 2024 and he played in 12 games during his rookie season. He failed to make the cut to 53 players last summer and spent the regular season on the practice squad.
Anderson had 24 tackles, a sack, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery during his first run with the team.
The Chargers will get to work with the 49ers at a joint practice on Tuesday, but that won’t be the only action their starters get in a competitive setting this week.
Head coach Jim Harbaugh told reporters at a press conference that the team’s starters will also take part in Thursday’s preseason game between the teams. Harbaugh said that the plan is for quarterback Justin Herbert and other starters to play one series before heading to the bench.
It’s a similar approach to the one that Harbaugh took with the Chargers last summer. That marked the first time that Herbert ever played in the preseason as COVID, coaching decisions and a foot injury kept him off the field in previous exhibition games.
The big difference this year is that it will be the first chance to see Herbert operating offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel’s scheme in a game setting. McDaniel said Monday that the goal is for the offense to produce “Year 2 results in Year 1” and Thursday will bring a chance to see how close they are to that level.
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.
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.
