The San Francisco 49ers on Tuesday made a couple of roster moves that signal good news for a pair of injured players.
In an expected move, the 49ers added wide receiver Javon Baker to the practice squad and released kicker Matt Gay in a corresponding move. They also let go of quarterback Adrian Martinez.
Gay’s release is a sign that kicker Eddy Pineiro is good to go after a hamstring injury in Week 11 held him out of the 49ers’ Week 12 and 13 wins. His injury was classified as a Grade 1 strain by head coach Kyle Shanahan, so the injury wasn’t expected to be a long-term issue. With the bye week in Week 14 it gave the 49ers an additional week to get their starting kicker healthy.
In two games as the 49ers’ kicker, Gay connected on all four of his field goal tries and all four of his extra points. The 31-year-old is now a free agent.
Martinez’s release is much more interesting. The 49ers opened rookie QB Kurtis Rourke’s practice window for their bonus practice Monday. They may plan on bringing Martinez back at some point to be in the building in the event they need a third QB. His release gives at least some credence to the idea that Rourke could be the team’s internal third QB once he’s activated off the non-football injury list. He was placed on that list in training camp while recovering from a torn ACL he had repaired after his final college season.
There aren’t a ton of quarterback reps to go around in practices, so any that Martinez might’ve gotten can now go to Rourke since there wouldn’t be enough to split between the two players.
San Francisco has 21 days from Monday to decide whether to activate Rourke. They could do that as early as this week. They may let him get his three weeks of practices in before putting him on season-ending IR and bringing Martinez back. Either way it looks like Rourke is in line to get his first real work in as he tries to get himself in the mix to be a backup for the 49ers moving into 2026 and beyond.
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