Darrell

Luter Jr.

Hufanga is now out with an ankle injury, one week after making his 2024 debut following his 2023 ACL reconstruction. The 49ers will fortunately have Williams (illness, toe) protecting Brock Purdy’s blindside though. Deebo Samuel Sr. is active as well. He remains a high-ceiling WR1, though the 49ers could opt to rest him late in the game if they establish a comfortable lead, as expected.

Kittle and Samuel were already ruled out. Though both players, along with Christian McCaffrey, will be missed, all remaining inactive players are backups. Starting defenders, Nick Bosa (rib) and Charvarius Ward (hamstring/knee) are active, as is Talanoa Hufanga (knee), who makes his regular season debut following his 2023 ACL tear.

Luter is able to be activated at any time, but his injury is currently unknown. He was a fifth-round pick out of South Alabama in this year’s draft. He’ll look to get activated and compete for playing time.

Luter (6’0/189) went the JuCo route before transferring to South Alabama where he became a two-time All-Sun Belt performer. He broke out in a big way in 2021, holding opponents to just 12 receptions on 45 targets (27% catch rate) for 150 yards with 10 PBU, four interceptions and an almost impossibly low 3.9 NFL passer rating when thrown to (Sauce Gardner second-lowest at 22.6). Luter’s play slipped a bit in 2022, going from an 86.2 PFF coverage grade in 2021 to 70.4 last year. However, a strong Senior Bowl showing and solid set of testing that culminated in an 8.46 RAS has put Luter firmly on NFL Draft radars. A true press-man specialist who badgers wide receivers at the line, Luter has adequate speed to run with wideouts but has a tendency to take too many gather steps on comeback routes. Though he was exclusively an outside corner in college, his ability to slide inside would greatly enhance his ability to stick on an NFL roster.