49ers Monday Night Football inactives: Samson Ebukam out again
By Peter Panacy
A steadily healthier 49ers team still can’t get Samson Ebukam back against the Cardinals on Monday Night Football in Mexico City.
It’s actually strange to think the San Francisco 49ers are one of the 10 healthiest teams in the NFL right now to close out Week 11.
But, according to @sportsdocmatt on Twitter, that’s precisely the case. The Niners are healthy.
It comes at a good time, too, as San Francisco squares off against the Arizona Cardinals in a key NFC West race at an awfully high elevation of 7,200 feet from Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, Mexico, on Monday Night Football.
A clean slate of health and adequate depth are going to be vital X-factors for both teams on Monday night, and one might assume the 49ers have the edge there.
But they won’t with EDGE Samson Ebukam (quad, Achilles), who’ll miss a second game in a row instead of reinforcing the pass rush opposite the Pro Bowler, Nick Bosa.
Ebukam, who has 3.5 sacks on the year, was listed as questionable on the Niners’ injury report leading up to the game and couldn’t quite dodge head coach Kyle Shanahan’s Week 11 inactive list ahead of Monday night, meaning reserve linemen Charles Omenihu and Drake Jackson likely see an uptick in field time with Ebukam out.
However, with Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray (hamstring) out with an injury, Omenihu, Jackson and Bosa should all have a significantly easier time chasing down the slower, less-mobile Colt McCoy, who’ll be getting the start for Arizona under center.
49ers inactives for Monday Night Football vs. Cardinals
San Francisco is also still without its best interior defensive lineman, Arik Armstead, who continues to nurse both foot and ankle injuries.
Armstead hasn’t played since Week 4, yet the 49ers have hesitated to place him on injured reserve, and he’s been on the weekly inactive list since that point. He’ll be joined in Week 11 by Ebukam and the following players who won’t suit up for the game:
- DL Arik Armstead
- EDGE Samson Ebukam
- RB Tyrion Davis-Price
- EDGE Kemoko Turay
- LB Curtis Robinson
- OL Nick Zakelj
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The Niners have largely mitigated Armstead’s absence by rotating the interior of their D-line, which has still proven to be largely effective against the run.
Whether or not the sans-Murray Cardinals take advantage of this is something that’ll be determined when both teams kick off from Estadio Azteca on Nov. 21 at 8:15 p.m. ET.