The San Francisco 49ers officially placed second-year pro defensive tackle Jullian Taylor on season-ending injured reserve Saturday, while promoting defensive lineman Kevin Givens from the team's practice squad.
Taylor suffered a torn ACL in practice ahead of San Francisco's Week 17 regular-season finale against the Seattle Seahawks this Sunday. He had been dealing with an elbow injury, previously, and the latest setback is one of many the Niners defensive line has dealt with over the course of the season.
Givens, meanwhile, will look to alleviate the losses of both Taylor and fellow defensive tackle D.J. Jones, who went on IR with an ankle injury earlier this month. At 6-foot-1 and 285 pounds, Givens has the body type of a base-down nose tackle, which will be important against a Seahawks team looking to establish the run on Sunday despite some notable injuries of its own.
"Kevin had a good training camp, was close to making our roster," head coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters previously. "He sat here and worked all year to get better, and he's been waiting for this opportunity, and he got it yesterday."
San Francisco signed Givens as an undrafted free agent following the 2019 NFL Draft. Givens played his college ball at Penn State, where he recorded 83 combined tackles, including 22 for a loss, 13.5 sacks and a forced fumble over 36 games.
According to the 49ers PR department, Givens will wear No. 90 this Sunday.
Peter Panacy has been writing about the 49ers since 2011 for outlets like Bleacher Report, Niner Noise, 49ers Webzone, and is occasionally heard as a guest on San Francisco's 95.7 FM The Game and the Niners' flagship station, KNBR 680. Feel free to follow him, or direct any inquiries to his Twitter account.
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