Getty Samson Ebukam preparing in the tunnel with his San Francisco 49ers teammates.
Though the San Francisco 49ers won’t be spending their Sunday playing football, as they won’t be taking the field until Monday Night Football in a special road game against the Arizona Cardinals live from Mexico City, all three of the team’s practices for Week 11 are officially in the books and fans now know the statuses of every player on the roster.
Largely speaking, the results are encouraging.
Entering the week with six players on the injury report, though three players, Trent Williams, Charvarius Ward, and Nick Bosa, earned DNP’s on Thursday due to “non injury related” reasons, two of the 49ers saw all but two of those names earn full go status heading into Week 11. Of the other two players, Arik Armstead, who hasn’t practiced since Week 4, remains out with a foot injury, whereas Samson Ebukam, who didn’t participate in practice on Thursday, is listed as questionable following two limited appearances in practice on Friday and Saturday.
Could a surprising name pop up on the injury report before Monday Night Football? That is totally possible, but for now, it looks like the Niners will be at almost full strength against the Cards, which is a rare sight for San Francisco this year.
The Arizona Cardinals’ Injury Report Is Far More Expansive
While the 49ers only have one player who is listed as out heading into Week 11, the Cardinals have been far less lucky, as they currently have three players, tight end Zach Ertz, tackle D.J. Humphries, and cornerback Byron Murphy who are out as of Saturday’s injury report. Furthermore, the Cardinals have three more players, wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins, guard Max Garcia, and quarterback Kyler Murray who are listed as questionable heading into Week 11, with their statuses to be determined just before game time on Monday.
One player who was on the injury report initially but ended up earning a clean bill of health on Saturday was Colt McCoy, the journeyman quarterback who led the team to a 27-17 victory over the Los Angeles Rams in Week 10. If Murray can’t go in Week 11, McCoy looks to be the starter-in-waiting for Arizona.
The San Francisco 49ers Have An Interesting Option At DE
If Ebukam is unable to go in Week 11, he will likely be replaced in the starting lineup by Charles Omenihu, the former fifth-round pick out of Texas who the 49ers traded a 2023 sixth-round pick to acquire in November of 2021.
Starting only the ninth game of his career in Week 10 of the 2022 NFL season, when the 49ers beat the Los Angeles Chargers 22-26, Omenihu recorded one sack, one tackle, one pass defensed, and three quarterback hits while playing 78 percent of San Francisco’s defensive snaps. Though he isn’t as polished a player as Ebukam at this stage of the game and doesn’t have the pure pass-rushing abilities of Drake Jackson, the team’s 2022 second-round pick out of USC, Omenihu, has proven himself a capable base down defensive end who can kick it inside and rush from a tackle spot on obvious passing downs. If there’s an upside to the absences of Ebukam and Armstead, it’s the additional snaps afforded to Omenihu in this, his fourth professional season.