The 49ers opened up a valuable 53-man roster spot on Saturday, Sept. 14 when they placed star running back Christian McCaffrey on injured reserve with calf tightness and Achilles tendinitis.
Nearly a week later, San Francisco still hasn't filled the roster spot.
President of football operations/general manager John Lynch spoke to Markus Boucher and Kerry Crowley on KNBR's "Murph and Markus" on Friday morning and he was asked why the 49ers have left the roster spot vacant.
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"We've kind of been at 52 players and the practice squad and the flexes kind of all you to do that," Lynch told Boucher and Crowley. "What you don't want to do is get in a deal where you're … if you need to, it's always smart to but you don't want to … for instance, Ricky Pearsall and some other guys are coming off the short-term IR or different lists, and so you don't want to have to expose guys by then having to cut players. So the flexes give you an opportunity to field the roster you want to. So there's always thought that goes into these things. But the answer to that is, no, we haven't [filled the spot]."
Pearsall, the 49ers' 2024 first-round draft pick, was placed on the Non-Football Injury list prior to the beginning of the season after he sustained a gunshot wound during an attempted robbery in San Francisco. He's eligible to play as early as Week 5.
The rookie wide receiver has begun working out and is traveling with the team to road games.
In addition to McCaffrey, the 49ers also have cornerback Ambry Thomas, running back Elijah Mitchell, offensive lineman Jon Feliciano and defensive lineman Kalia Davis on injured reserve.
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Davis underwent knee surgery during the preseason and is expected to miss half of the 2024 season, while Mitchell will miss the entire year due to a severe hamstring injury.
Feliciano also underwent knee surgery in August and coach Kyle Shanahan said at the time he was hopeful the veteran lineman would be back by the middle of the year.
Thomas sustained a fractured right forearm in the 49ers' preseason opener against the Tennessee Titans on Aug. 10.
Lynch and the 49ers clearly are playing the waiting game, hoping one of their injured players returns soon and takes that roster spot.
If Pearsall is the closest among the current crop of injured players, the 49ers will go at least another two weeks without filling the 53-man roster spot.