SANTA CLARA — Here are the 49ers’ latest updates as they reconvene Monday after a three-day break following their Thanksgiving Night win in Seattle:
MORE D-LINE DEPTH
Yet again, the 49ers have added to their defensive front.
With rookie defensive end Robert Beal Jr.’s activation Monday off Injured Reserve, the 49ers now have 10 defensive linemen on the 53-man roster.
For now, that defensive depth chart is top-heavy, as the 49ers are carrying just two safeties — Tashaun Gipson Sr. and Ji’Ayir Brown — after season-ending injuries in back-to-back games to Talanoa Hufanga (knee) and George Odum (biceps), the latter of whom went on Injured Reserve on Monday.
Beal, a fifth-round draft pick from Georgia, sustained hamstring injuries during training camp. The 49ers carried him onto their initial 53-man roster so they could introduce him at some point during his rookie year.
The defensive line’s depth chart:
Starters: Nick Bosa, Javon Hargrave, Arik Armstead, Clelin Ferrell
Backups: Chase Young, Javon Kinlaw, Kevin Givens, Randy Gregory, Kalia Davis, Beal.
Armstead, by the way, was not seen during the brief access afforded to the media at practice, but he is at the team facility. Of his five sacks this season, 4 1/2 have come in the past four games.
FAST STARTS
The 49ers’ 52 points on their opening possessions rank as the fourth-most in NFL history through 11 games, trailing only the 2007 New England Patriots (58), the 2018 Kansas City Chiefs (55), and the 2019 Baltimore Ravens (54). All made the playoffs, none won the Super Bowl.
Thursday night, the 49ers scored a touchdown on their opening series for the seventh game this season.
The Eagles have four opening-drive touchdowns (three field goals, three three-and-outs, and one turnover on downs). In last year’s NFC Championship Game, they started with an 11-play, 66-yard drive capped by Miles Sanders’ 6-yard touchdown run; that score came two snaps after a fourth-down reception at the 6-yard line that may have been ruled incomplete had the 49ers challenged the call.
“We haven’t started the way we’ve wanted to start,” Eagles coach Nick Siranni told reporters Monday. “Traditionally, the past couple of years, we’ve been a team that’s started fast, so I’m not hitting a panic button. …I get it, you’re judged off the last two games and not the whole body of work.”
The Eagles went 3-and-out in their past two wins, against the Chiefs last Monday night and the Bills on Sunday night.