49ers nix wide receiver arrivals
Right tackle McGlinchey sustains season-ending quadriceps tear in loss
SANTA CLARA >> No, the 49ers won’t claim wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. off waivers Tuesday.
No, Jalen Hurd won’t suit up this season, as was the case his first two seasons since being drafted in the third round.
Also out of their wide receiver mix “for a while” is Mohamed Sanu, who’s been something of a third-down specialist.
Those were coach Kyle Shanahan’s updates Monday, and such is the state of a 49ers’ receiving corps that must further rely on Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk and tight end George Kittle to turn around a 3-5 start.
Right tackle Mike McGlinchey will be missing from that offense the remainder of the season, having torn a quadriceps in Sunday’s 31-17 loss to the Arizona Cardinals.
McGlinchey, Shanahan said, had been doing “a hell of a job” after last year’s struggles in pass protection.
Now it’ll be up to either veteran Tom Compton, rookie Jaylon Moore or perhaps Daniel Brunskill to keep that right edge solidified, which will be tested Monday night when the 49ers host the Los Angeles Rams and their defensive stalwarts Aaron Donald, Leonard Floyd and new addition Von Miller.
So what about those above-mentioned receiving options?
Well, as much as Shanahan and general manager John Lynch may covet Beckham, he hit the waiver wire Monday with a $7.25 million salary that would be inherited by whatever team claims him. The 49ers currently have $3.6 million in cap space, and they’re 10th in the waiver order.
“For that reason, we won’t be able to put a claim on him, just for the financial reasons,” said Shanahan,
who didn’t signal whether the 49ers would bid for Beckham if he passes through waivers and becomes a free agent.
As for Hurd, the 2019 third-round pick out of Baylor is still recovering from his 2020 anterior cruciate ligament tear. He had four catches for 25 yards in the exhibition finale against the Raiders, his first game action since the ACL tear and since injuring his back in the 2019 preseason.
“We tried to give it some rest, things keep happening and it’s not getting better,” Shanahan said. “We have all these timelines on it and we’re not meeting those deadlines. It’s not healing the way we want. Looking at how it’s going, I don’t think it’ll heal fast enough this year for him to help us.”
Sanu ranks fifth on the 49ers with 15 catches for 177 yards, trailing Samuel (49 for 882 yards), Kittle (25 for 328 yards), Aiyuk (19 for 230 yards) and fullback Kyle Juszczyk (17 for 160 yards). The other receivers on the active roster are Trent Sherfield (four for 41 yards), Jauan Jennings (three for 31 yards) and Travis Benjamin (no receptions); River Cracraft and Austin Watkins Jr. are on the practice squad.
Samuel has missed practice time the past two weeks because of a calf injury, and Shanahan said he received no word Monday of any further aggravation.
MCGLINCHEY DONE IN
McGlinchey’s torn quadriceps indeed will end his season, Shanahan confirmed. Since being drafted with the 49ers’ top pick in 2018, McGlinchey has started every game but four in 2019 when he recovered from meniscus surgery.
“Mike was doing a hell of a job coming off of his last year,” Shanahan said. “We saw really good things his first two years. He knows and we all know he had a setback in his third season last year; he struggled at times.
“He put in work in the offseason and he’s had a much better year, getting back to where he was his second year. It’s unfortunate he was getting better each week and playing as the right tackle we needed him to play like, and I thought he’d get better. He’ll heal up and hopefully this will make him better for next year.”
Rookie Jaylon Moore and veteran Tom Compton have served as the secondstring tackles. Right guard Daniel Brunskill could slide over and his spot could be filled by rookie Aaron Banks, a secondround pick who’s yet to debut. In April, the 49ers exercised McGlinchey’s fifthyear option for 2022 for $10.9 million guaranteed. JOSH NORMAN STATUS
Cornerback Josh Norman will be limited this week, because of a rib injury rather than any discipline stemming from Sunday’s second-quarter taunting penalty that got him benched and replaced by Dre Kirkpatrick, who is now day to day with an ankle injury.
“No, I did not want him benched the whole game for that (taunting) reason,” Shanahan said Monday. “I wanted him out of there to cool down, so I was cool with that. In the third quarter, I noticed Dre was still out there. They (defensive coaches) just kept going with Dre, and I was OK with that decision.
“Josh has made some mistakes this year. I also like that he’s caused some turnovers and I like the way that he plays. They wanted to roll with Dre and I fully supported that for the second half.” Norman has been called for a team-high seven penalties in his seven games.
With 6 minutes until halftime, Norman taunted Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury, who had just drawn an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty himself for arguing with officials, after K’Waun Williams’ tackle for a 2-yard loss on a third-and-18. Norman, a 10th-year veteran, did not take kindly to safety Tavon Wilson’s attempted escort off the field, but linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair intervened and Norman eventually took a seat on the bench.