Arguably the 49ers’ weakest position group has gotten even thinner. San Francisco made a series of moves on Saturday that showed the strain being put on their defensive backfield.
Corner Dontae Johnson — who Kyle Shanahan would have started Sunday if available — was listed as questionable with a personal matter on Friday and has now been ruled out. Simultaneously, corner Emmanuel Moseley was placed on injured reserve with a high ankle sprain, which means he will be out at least until the penultimate week of the season, when San Francisco will host the Houston Texans.
In their stead, former Alabama corner and practice squadder Saivion Smith has been promoted to the active roster, as has wide receiver River Cracraft, discernibly for special teams purposes.
That means one of Deommodore Lenoir or Ambry Thomas will start on Sunday. Lenoir started the first two games of the season before being relegated largely to a special teams role, while Thomas was made inactive for four-straight weeks during the middle of the year before playing more in recent weeks.
Trenton Cannon, who suffered a head injury which required an ambulance to be brought onto the field against Seattle, will also be placed on injured reserve along with Moseley.
There were two additional practice squad bumps made, with former Falcons running back Brian Hill and safety Jarrod Wilson both being activated for Sunday’s game with the Bengals.
To recap, Johnson has been ruled out, Cannon and Moseley will be placed on injured reserve, and one corner, one receiver, one safety and one running back have been moved up to the active roster for gameday.