SANTA CLARA — He signed with the 49ers late in the season, and now he finds himself in an important spot as the playoffs begin.

Linebacker Eric Kendricks did not know what to expect when he came to the 49ers in November. He wanted an opportunity to make a contribution to a postseason team.

And that is exactly what will happen, as he takes over at middle linebacker against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday in the first round of the NFC playoffs.

“I don’t know what I envisioned,” Kendricks said on Wednesday. “I took a leap of faith, as far as the organization was concerned. I just had a gut feeling. I didn’t want to jump on anything too early that didn’t feel quite right.

“I didn’t play for a whole, so nothing really felt right. I got this opportunity, and it felt right.”

Kendricks appeared in the past three games for the 49ers after signing with the team’s practice squad on Nov. 26. On Wednesday, the 49ers activated him to the 53-man roster and placed Tatum Bethune on injured reserve with a groin injury.

“This team is super-unselfish,” Kendricks said. “You can see it through all position groups. So it was up to me to be unselfish, as well. I learned all the positions at linebacker to help me learn the defense a lot better.”

Kendricks, 33, enters the postseason as the most-accomplished player on the 49ers’ defense with one Pro Bowl and one first-team All-Pro on his resume during his 11-year NFL career. He takes over at middle linebacker for Bethune, who started eight games while Fred Warner has been out after surgery on a fractured and dislocated right ankle.

Kendricks will make his seventh career postseason start. He must take control of the defense with less-experienced players around him. Dee Winters is hobbled with an ankle injury, so the 49ers might have to turn to such players as Garret Wallow, Curtis Robinson and Luke Gifford to fill out the team’s linebacker positions.

“I feel like honestly this is where I’m very comfortable at,” Kendricks said. “I am very confident and comfortable with this position in particular.”

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