Jason Verrett, 4 others part of 49ers second wave of roster moves

Still staying with the team, the 49ers made Jason Verrett a part of their second wave of roster transactions to get down to 80 players by Tuesday’s deadline.

No, if you’re reading the headline and wondering, the San Francisco 49ers are cutting veteran cornerback Jason Verrett.

They wouldn’t be able to anyway without an injury settlement, and it doesn’t appear that’s what the Niners’ plan was regardless.

After suffering a torn ACL in Week 1 back in 2021, Verrett nevertheless re-signed with San Francisco as a low-risk flier even with the team investing in other corners like Charvarius Ward and the upstart rookie, Samuel Womack, during the offseason.

Verrett hasn’t been able to practice with the team yet, still recovering from the torn ACL and starting off the offseason program on the active/physically unable-to-perform (PUP) list.

The 49ers already made one wave of NFL-manded roster cuts, going from 90 players on the offseason roster down to 85 in the wake of Week 1 of the preseason.

The second wave was required to take place no later than Tuesday, Aug. 23 by 4 p.m. ET, and Verrett technically finds himself in that group.

Technically.

49ers move Jason Verrett to inactive list

Prior to the Niners having to officially announce their cut-down list, NBC Sports Bay Area’s Matt Maiocco reported Verrett was going to go from the active/PUP list to the reserve/PUP list:

It’s a stash strategy here, as San Francisco can look to activate Verrett after four games to reinforce the cornerback room if needed, putting off a would-be roster move until that point.

Also, as Maiocco pointed out in the same thread, general manager John Lynch told reporters there were no setbacks with Verrett’s ACL recovery, rather the 49ers were “just being safe” with the veteran.

49ers engineer 4 other roster moves to get down to 80 players

So much for our prediction on which players would be dismissed in the second wave of roster cuts, although we were correct about wide receiver Austin Mack receiving a waived/injured designation after suffering a hamstring injury in the preseason victory over the Minnesota Vikings.

To fill the void and help out a depleted secondary, though, San Francisco inked veteran safety Tashaun Gipson to a one-year deal.

With those moves excluded, here are the remaining four transactions Lynch and Co. engineered to meet the 4 p.m. Tuesday deadline:

• DT Kalia Davis: reserve/non-football injury list
• OT Sam Schlueter: waived
• LB Jeremiah Gemmel: waived
• TE Tanner Hudson: waived

Mack could revert back to the Niners’ injured-reserve list if no other team claims him, while Davis was a candidate for the NFI list immediately after San Francisco drafted him in Round 6. The former Central Florida interior defensive lineman suffered a torn ACL his final year in college, so the “non-football” part of the injury simply means it didn’t occur in an NFL setting.

Hudson, who led the offense in receptions and receiving yards against Minnesota, is a bit of a surprise, but the 49ers do have a bit of a logjam at tight end anyway.

The Niners will have to follow the league’s protocol for the final wave of roster cuts, getting the squad down to the opening 53 players ahead of Week 1, no later than Tuesday, Aug. 30 by 4 p.m. ET.

Meanwhile, the Niners have one final preseason game left to help influence those decisions, which kicks off against the Houston Texans on Thursday, Aug. 25 at 8:15 p.m. ET.