Saturday provided more devastating news for the 49ers’ top pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. The team’s plan to replace DeForest Buckner is looking more and more like a lost cause.
The following is from the team:
The San Francisco 49ers today announced that LB Curtis Robinson has been activated from the Injured Reserve List and placed DT Javon Kinlaw and CB Emmanuel Moseley on the Injured Reserve List.
Additionally, the following players have been activated from the team’s practice squad (standard elevations):
CB Dontae Johnson
WR Willie Snead IV
The move to place Kinlaw, the former 14th overall pick in 2020, on injured reserve, comes after he underwent total knee reconstruction last year.
He had a few bright moments early, before missing out the last two weeks and being ruled out of the upcoming game in Atlanta.
Kinlaw could return later in the season, with a four-game minimum wait for players placed on injured reserve before they can return. But his status, and long-term future, looks ever murkier.
The likelihood that the the team picks up Kinlaw’s fifth-year option next May appears decidedly low. If he fails to play another down this season, he would be entering his fourth season with 21 games played, 1.5 sacks, 14 pressures and 43 combined tackles in his career.
With Tristan Wirfs — the tackle the 49ers declined to draft in their trade down with the Buccaneers from 13 to 14 — looking like a bona fide stud for Tampa Bay, the pick looks ever more head-scratching. The upside is that the trade down helped acquire the pick to draft Brandon Aiyuk, who has been a major contributor.
All that’s clear at this moment is that San Francisco is not getting the production it had hoped for from Kinlaw. He had knee issues coming out of South Carolina they hoped he could overcome. So far, that’s not been the case.