Eddy Piñeiro’s hamstring injury has the 49ers looking for kickers: Minutia minute – The Athletic

The San Francisco 49ers will hold a kicker tryout this week after Eddy Piñeiro, their leading scorer, suffered a Grade 1 hamstring strain in the third quarter of Sunday’s win over the Arizona Cardinals.

Coach Kyle Shanahan said Piñeiro would be “week to week” moving forward and that the team didn’t yet have candidates in mind to replace him. Because their upcoming game is on Monday, the 49ers will start preparing for the Carolina Panthers on Thursday.

The 49ers will hold tryouts Tuesday. Among those taking part will be John Parker Romo — who’s kicked for six NFL teams, including the Atlanta Falcons earlier this year — and Anders Carlson, who spent two games with the 49ers last season, league sources said.

Meanwhile, middle linebacker Tatum Bethune suffered a high-ankle sprain in the first half against the Cardinals. Shanahan said Bethune will miss “a few weeks” but probably won’t have to go on injured reserve because the 49ers’ bye week is coming up in two weeks.

Curtis Robinson filled in for Bethune for the rest of the game and finished with a team-high 11 tackles. Robinson’s backup in the coming weeks? It might be Jalen Graham, who could be called up from the practice squad.

The quick-scoring 49ers lost Sunday’s time-of-possession battle with the Cardinals, 34:15 to 25:45. They ran 55 plays versus 79 for Arizona. Here’s how the individual snaps were divided:

Quarterback: Brock Purdy 50, Mac Jones 5

Purdy finished with a passer rating of 133.5 — not too shabby for a guy coming off a seven-week absence. It was his 11th game with a passer rating of 130 or higher, the most by any quarterback in his first four seasons since at least 1970.

Shanahan said he gave the players Monday off and hadn’t checked in with Purdy about how his big toe felt a day after the game.

“But in talking to him (Sunday) night, I know he felt pretty good,” Shanahan said. “He checked out all right.”

Shanahan said the team would try to re-sign Adrian Martinez, who was waived on Saturday, to the practice squad this week. He also said he’d like to open the practice window this year for rookie Kurtis Rourke, who is on the non-football injury list while recovering from a torn ACL suffered in college, so he can get three weeks of practice as a warmup to next offseason.

Running back: Christian McCaffrey 39, Kyle Juszczyk (fullback) 29, Brian Robinson Jr. 16, George Kittle (H-back) 1

McCaffrey had his first run of 20 or more yards — 20 yards exactly, late in the fourth quarter — this season, and his 6.2 yards-per-carry was his highest of the season by nearly a yard. He finished with 121 yards from scrimmage, the 10th time he’s surpassed the 100-yard mark in that category this season. McCaffrey’s on pace to finish with 1,093 rushing yards and 1,131 receiving yards.

The 49ers seemed to reward Robinson with more snaps following strong outings the previous two weeks. Robinson, however, averaged only 3 yards per carry, and the three drives that began with him, not McCaffrey, in the backfield were three-and-out series.

Wide receiver: Jauan Jennings 41, Ricky Pearsall 41, Demarcus Robinson 27, Kendrick Bourne 13

Bourne went into the game needing just 18 receiving yards to reach 500 for the season, which would trigger a $500,000 incentive. However, he played a season-low 13 snaps and wasn’t targeted in the passing game.

Pearsall had a quiet first game back, finishing with one catch for no gain in three targets. His presence, however, seemed to change the dynamic of a receiver group that’s been missing a speed element for most of the season. On the 49ers’ second drive, for example, two defenders followed Pearsall deep down the field, allowing Purdy to connect with a wide-open Jennings underneath for a 25-yard gain.

Tight end: Kittle 47, Luke Farrell 16, Jake Tonges 5

Kittle caught all six of his targets Sunday, the third straight game in which he’s hauled in every pass that’s gone in his direction. With two touchdowns, he and Purdy have connected on 23 TDs since 2022. The only 49ers quarterback-tight end duo with more is Alex Smith and Vernon Davis, with 30.

Offensive line: Dominick Puni 53, Colton McKivitz 52, Jake Brendel 50, Trent Williams 50, Spencer Burford 30, Ben Bartch 30, Matt Hennessy 5, Austen Pleasants 5

Williams’ 50 snaps were his second-fewest of the season (48 in Week 8 at Houston). He and fellow thirty-something Brendel were on the sideline for San Francisco’s final drive, replaced by Pleasants and Hennessy, respectively.

The Cardinals’ Josh Sweat was difficult for the Niners to contain in two meetings this season, posting a sack and an additional quarterback hit in each game. The bulk of his snaps Sunday, when he had three total pressures, came against McKivitz.

QB pressures allowed:

• Brendel: 2
• McKivitz: 2
• Bartch: 1
• Burford: 1
• Puni: 1
• Williams: 0

Defensive line: Bryce Huff 57, Sam Okuayinonu 54, Keion White 50, Kalia Davis 42, Alfred Collins 37, Jordan Elliott 36, CJ West 34, Robert Beal Jr. 7

The 49ers finished without a sack for the third time this season. They have 12 through 11 games and are on pace to finish with 18.5, which would be 9.5 fewer than their lowest total in a non-strike-shortened season since sacks became an official statistic in 1982. They had 28 in 2015 and 2005. The Browns’ Myles Garrett (15) and the Giants’ Brian Burns (13) each have more sacks than San Francisco this season.

White had not only his busiest day since being traded to the 49ers last month, but he had his busiest day of the season. The 49ers like to use him as a base-down defensive end and passing-down defensive tackle. He mostly had to stick to end on Sunday after Beal left the game with a concussion. Beal is now in the concussion protocol.

Because they were leading comfortably for most of the game, the 49ers called only six blitzes on Jacoby Brissett’s 57 pass attempts. The most effective pass rushers were Huff and Davis. Huff’s pressures included two quarterback hits; Davis’ included one hit and two hurries.

Quarterback pressures:

• Davis: 4
• Huff: 3
• Okuayinonu 2
• White 2
• Collins 1
• Elliott 1

Linebacker: Dee Winters 62, Robinson 54, Bethune 24, Nick Martin 14, Luke Gifford 2

Martin, a third-round draft pick in April, got his first defensive snaps and finished with six tackles. His best highlight might have come on a two-point conversion attempt on which Gifford initially stopped running back Bam Knight, and Martin finished him off with gusto.

Rookie Nick Martin played his first defensive snaps of the season. His most eye-catching play — finishing off a Cardinals running back on this 2-pt attempt. (Assist to Luke Gifford) pic.twitter.com/eBa1jSf4Dv

— Matt Barrows (@mattbarrows) November 17, 2025

Cornerback: Renardo Green 71, Deommodore Lenoir 66, Upton Stout 41, Darrell Luter Jr. 19, Chase Lucas 11

Lenoir, who was questionable for the game with a calf injury, graded out well. The Cardinals targeted him seven times and completed four of those attempts for 63 yards — 34 of them on a throw to Michael Wilson. Wilson’s 185 receiving yards were the most by any NFL player in a game this season. Lenoir also had a pass breakup and an interception, his second of the season.

Stout’s forced fumble at the 1-yard line was impressive. His initial hit on tight end Elijah Higgins didn’t jar the ball loose, but he kept his hand on the ball as he fell off the tackle attempt, eventually pulling it loose.

Upton Stout’s goal-line forced fumble on Sunday was impressive. He didn’t pop the ball out on contact, but instead kept his hand on the ball and pried it out as he was falling off the tackle attempt. pic.twitter.com/Lk4eda6RIE

— Matt Barrows (@mattbarrows) November 17, 2025

Safety: Ji’Ayir Brown 70, Malik Mustapha 70, Jason Pinnock 39, Marques Sigle 9

The 49ers opened the game in their “big nickel” defense, which uses three safeties. That led to Pinnock’s busiest game since he and Sigle lost their starting roles to Brown and Mustapha in Week 6. He finished with five tackles, including a tackle for loss.

Special teams: Farrell 25, Tonges 23, Gifford 22, Siran Neal 19, Luter 19, Sigle 17, Isaac Guerendo 15, Piñeiro 14, Thomas Morstead 13, Lucas 13, C. Robinson 13, Jon Weeks 11, Martin 11, McKivitz 8, Puni 8, Pleasants 8, Hennessy 8, Burford 8, Bartch 8, Skyy Moore 8, Brown 8, Beal 8, Juszczyk 5, B. Robinson 5, Collins 4, Pinnock 4, White 4, Davis 3, Elliott 3, McCaffrey 2, Pearsall 2, Jennings 2, Winters 2, Green 1, Bethune 1, Huff 1, Okuayinonu 1, Lenoir 1, Mustapha 1.

Moore’s 98-yard kickoff return to open the game was the 49ers’ longest since Ted Ginn Jr. went 102 yards for a touchdown in the 2011 season opener against the Seattle Seahawks. Ginn also scored a punt-return touchdown in that game, which is the last punt-return score the 49ers have had. Richie James scored on a 97-yard kickoff return in 2018, which was also against the Seahawks.

Moore reached 19.7 mph on his return, per Next Gen Stats, the fastest speed for a 49ers ball carrier this season.

Piñeiro is now 22-of-22 on field goals this season. He seemed particularly fired up after his final try, from 47 yards, in the third quarter. The kicker had to be calmed down by the side judge and pulled to the sideline by teammates, including Gifford. Shanahan said he didn’t know what happened.

“But I heard about it and I just saw it on film,” he said with a chuckle. “He’s just a very fiery guy, fun. We enjoyed it, and I’m not sure what happened.”