SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- While the San Francisco 49ers enjoyed the immediate aftermath of knocking off the NFC West Division rival Seattle Seahawks on Sunday, they didn't have much time to celebrate.
As it turned out, there was too much business to take care of before a Week 2 meeting against the New Orleans Saints. In a span of about 72 hours, all of the following things happened (in no particular order): Tight end George Kittle landed on injured reserve with a hamstring injury; coach Kyle Shanahan announced that quarterback Brock Purdy is dealing with left shoulder and toe injuries that make him a "long shot" to play this week; wide receiver Kendrick Bourne re-signed with the team after a four-year detour to New England; kicker Jake Moody was waived to make room for veteran Eddy Pineiro; and right tackle Colton McKivitz signed a three-year, $45 million contract extension.
For the unbeaten Niners, making headlines for injuries and transactions is nothing new, but this was excessive even for them, and the week isn't over yet.
With that in mind, here's a closer look at how each of those developments affects the 49ers' quest to get off to a strong start with a schedule that follows a trip to New Orleans (0-1) with home meetings against the Arizona Cardinals (1-0) and Jacksonville Jaguars (1-0).
What will the Niners do without Kittle?
It's been a half-decade since the 49ers last had to go as long as they're about to without Kittle in the lineup. While Kittle has played through bumps and bruises often in recent years, he's played at least 14 games in each of the past four seasons.
Now that he's on injured reserve, though, the 49ers will be without him for at least the next four games with his earliest possible return coming Oct. 12 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Make no mistake, losing Kittle is a big deal, especially given the connection he and Purdy had working throughout training camp and for a quarter-plus on Sunday.
"It's a challenge," Shanahan said. "Once you know what it is, you kind of get out of your head, move on and try to work with what you've got. I think it's harder when guys miss four games and they always got a chance and then because you're always planning on it and then it's different. So, we know we don't have him for four weeks and it'll be a challenge for everybody. You don't replace George in the run game, and you definitely don't replace him in the pass game."
Replacing Kittle fully might not be possible, but the Niners will have to work with what they've got. Against the Seahawks, San Francisco used Luke Farrell (45 offensive snaps) and Jake Tonges (31 offensive snaps) plenty, essentially dividing up Kittle's snaps between them.
Brayden Willis, who is on the practice squad, could also be called up to take some of that workload, but there's at least one other option in the building: fullback Kyle Juszczyk.
Juszczyk told ESPN in August that he's been dividing his time in meetings between the running backs and the tight ends for the first time in his career. Against the Seahawks, Juszczyk lined up more times as an in-line tight end (15) than in the backfield (12), which isn't completely unusual but could be a hint of a bit of an expanded tight end role.
That's not to say Juszczyk will be playing tight end exclusively, but the line is blurred enough between the two positions that Juszczyk could at least help fill the Kittle void.
"Juice is one of the smarter players I've been around," Shanahan said. "We try to switch it up more for him to keep intriguing him."
If Purdy is out, how ready is Mac Jones to handle starting duties?
With Purdy nursing a shoulder and toe injury that Shanahan said could possibly keep him out multiple games, Jones is likely to start against the Saints.
Aside from a brief absence after he sprained his knee in the preseason, Jones impressed Shanahan and the Niners with his training camp performance.
Jones started seven games last season for injured Jaguas QB Trevor Lawrence. The No. 15 pick in the 2021 draft posted a 36.6 QBR with eight touchdowns and eight interceptions in 10 games.
Jones arrived in San Francisco this offseason hoping to reset his career a la Sam Darnold circa 2023. After some early bumps, Shanahan and quarterbacks coach Mick Lombardi implored Jones to stop worrying about the outcome and start letting it rip.
"Mac's been awesome," running back Christian McCaffrey said. "He's been such a good guy in the locker room, such a good guy on the field and he shined a bunch of times in camp. He's got a whole bunch of starts under his belt."
Shanahan also gave Jones a vote of confidence, noting that his experience and toughness can be beneficial in what figures to be a loud and difficult setting in New Orleans.
"I think Mac knows how to play the position," Shanahan said. "He can play well in the pocket, distributes the ball well, sees coverage well, can play fast in there."
How does Bourne fit into the offense?
In a matter of coincidence, the Niners' attempts to bring Bourne back to the Bay happened the same week that Jones is stepping into the starting lineup. Sans Kittle and with Jauan Jennings (shoulder) and Jordan Watkins (ankle) still dealing with injuries, the 49ers needed another wideout with knowledge of their scheme to offer Jones a reliable target.
It just so happens that Bourne and Jones have plenty of experience working together from their time in New England. While they only spent three seasons together, Bourne has 119 receptions for 1,477 yards and 10 touchdowns with Jones throwing him the ball.
Upon arriving in San Francisco, Bourne said Jones immediately got to work helping him relearn the offense, providing tips and serving as a sounding board.
And now that Bourne has recovered from knee and foot issues, he believes he could go from signing Tuesday to playing Sunday with the real possibility he could be one of Jones' top three receiving targets right away.
"I don't think it's too much [to ask]," Bourne said. "I think it's up to me. It's my preparation. ...I don't know what's going to happen, but I'm excited to see what's going to happen."
Why did the 49ers finally move on from Moody and sign Piñeiro?
Missing a 27-yard field goal and having a 36-yard attempt blocked Sunday weren't the reasons the Niners waived Moody, the 2023 No. 99 pick, on Tuesday.
Instead, they were just the latest in a growing list of misfires that Shanahan said Wednesday had shaken Moody's confidence to the point the Niners could no longer trust him to handle the job.
"By where it got to, there wasn't that much of a decision," Shanahan said. "It's always tough with that, especially when you have a talented guy. ... I think Jake's got a chance to have a hell of a future. He is that talented. But when it gets to that spot where it is, we all know how last year ended, we know how everyone was looking at him and obviously when it gets to that point, you can see it affecting him from a mental game. Then you don't have much choice. You've got to move on."
Moody's struggles dating to last season have been well-documented. Including Sunday, Moody had made 12 of his past 23 field goal attempts, a 52% conversion rate that was about 11% below the next closest kicker to have attempted at least 10 in that span.
Moody even took the drastic measure of changing his approach from three steps to two in hopes of eliminating variance in his kicks and making him more accurate. But the inconsistency was too much and the Niners had to move on.
In Piñeiro, the 49ers signed one of the most accurate field goal kickers in league history. His 88.1% conversion rate on field goals ranks fourth in NFL among kickers with at least 100 career attempts. The downside is that Piñeiro has struggled with extra points since it was moved back to 33 yards in 2015.
Piñeiro's 92.1% conversion rate on those kicks ranks 43rd out of 54 kickers with at least 75 such tries in that span. Piñeiro said Wednesday he chose San Francisco over an opportunity in Atlanta because he viewed it as a better opportunity, though he knows the stakes of his new job.
"At the end of the day, you just got to make kicks, and I know if I don't make kicks, I'll be out of here," Piñeiro said.
Why was keeping McKivitz important?
In some ways, McKivitz signing a lucrative contract extension that includes $27 million in guarantees in the same couple of days that the Niners had so much chaos happening elsewhere on the roster is the perfect encapsulation of why retaining him was a priority.
McKivitz isn't a star or even necessarily a household name, something he joked about last week when he alluded to himself as "one of the four other guys" on the offensive line not named Trent Williams.
But McKivitz has authored quite a story for himself since the Niners selected him in the fifth round (No. 153) of the 2020 draft. After spending his first three seasons bouncing between the roster and the practice squad, McKivitz stepped into the starting right tackle job in place of Mike McGlinchey after he signed a big deal with the Denver Broncos in free agency.
Since then, McKivitz is one of three 49ers to start all 38 regular and postseason games, along with center Jake Brendel and linebacker Fred Warner. McKivitz has steadily improved in that time, as well, according to Shanahan.
"Colton's been one of the most reliable guys on our team," Shanahan said. "The consistency he's played with, the fact that I believe he gets better each year also and really that I think Colton's one of the true leaders on our team and truly a 49er. I'm really pumped that we found a way to keep him here."
On the surface, the deal appears to be a win-win. McKivitz more than doubled his annual salary from $7 million to $15 million while the Niners locked in their starting right tackle for less than he likely would have gotten if he hit free agency in March.
In the end, it was more about fit than squeezing every last dollar out of a deal.
"I love playing here," McKivitz said last week. "I love being a part of this team and they've reciprocated that."