Updated Aug. 29, 2026, 1:54 p.m. PT
The San Francisco 49ers have wrapped up their 2026 preseason and now the work begins on creating the 53-man roster they’ll carry into the regular season.
This season has the added curveball for the 49ers of going to Australia for a Week 1 matchup with the Los Angeles rams which truncates the timeline they’re working in to maximize their roster. They’ll have the same cutdown deadline as the rest of the league, but because their travel plans for their season opener include leaving Wednesday, Sept. 2, the team has only a couple of days to figure out how to navigate injured lists, the waiver wire and free agent signings. Before they can do any of that, though, they have to trim their roster from the 90-player offseason limit to the 53-player maximum for the regular season.
Follow along with their cuts here:
49ers cutting QB Adrian Martinez, keeping QB Kurtis Rourke The 49ers are letting go of Martinez in an expected move per NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport. However, Rapoport also reported San Francisco will keep QB Kurtis Rourke as their third QB. It would’ve been a significant surprise had the 49ers subjected Rourke to waivers and risked losing him to another club.
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Why are 49ers cuts taking so long? The 49ers theoretically have everything they need to know in order to make their cuts. However, it doesn’t really do them any good to get the cuts out of the way early.
Waiting gives them a chance to survey how other teams are operating because a player may be released or come available for trade that changes the 49ers’ calculus for their final cuts. They may release some veterans early to give them a head start on finding new teams, but it wouldn’t be a surprise if we were waiting until the deadline for a large majority of their moves. Patrick Taylor release doesn’t count for 90-man roster cutdown The 49ers on Friday released the veteran running back after reaching an injury settlement with him. He suffered an undisclosed injury before their second preseason game and was placed on IR, effectively ending his season with San Francisco.
By going the IR route, the 49ers removed Taylor from the 90-man roster. He was replaced by Khalil Herbert.
By releasing Taylor the 49ers simply made him a free agent and didn’t get any closer to reaching the 53-player limit. NFL roster cut deadline Deadline: Sunday, August 30 at 3:00pm Pacific Time
San Francisco won’t practice again until after the Sunday deadline so their evaluation period is over. They have all of the information they need to start making moves. 49ers injury updates after preseason finale The 49ers had two injuries crop up in Thursday night’s game vs. the Las Vegas Raiders. Tight end Brayden Willis suffered a concussion and rookie cornerback Ephesians Prysock is dealing with a shoulder injury that could make him an IR candidate. It looked like Prysock was on track to make the 53-man roster, but now the team may need to place him on IR with a return designation before he makes the initial roster.
Going into cuts the 49ers still have running back Isaac Guerendo and defensive end Mykel Williams on the PUP list. If the 49ers don’t activate them before cuts, they’ll be on the PUP to start the season where they’ll be required to miss at least four weeks before returning to game action. 49ers 53-man roster projection There are a slew of question marks on the 49ers’ 90-man roster which made our final 53-man roster projection a difficult one. 49ers 2026 preseason results Week 1, Aug. 13 | Tennessee Titans 19, 49ers 13 Week 2, Aug. 20 | 49ers 41, Los Angeles Chargers 17 Week 3, Aug.
27 | 49ers 18, Las Vegas Raiders 12 49ers 2026 schedule Here is San Francisco’s season schedule. Thursday, Sept. 10: 49ers at Los Angeles Rams (Melbourne, Australia) Sunday, Sept. 20: 49ers vs. Miami Dolphins Sunday, Sept. 27: 49ers vs. Arizona Cardinals Sunday, Oct.
4: 49ers vs. Denver Broncos Sunday, Oct. 11: 49ers at Seattle Seahawks Monday, Oct. 19: 49ers vs. Washington Commanders Sunday, Oct. 25: 49ers at Atlanta Falcons Sunday, Nov.
1: Bye Sunday, Nov. 8: 49ers vs. Las Vegas Raiders Sunday, Nov. 15: 49ers at Dallas Cowboys Sunday, Nov. 22: 49ers vs. Minnesota Vikings (Mexico City) Sunday, Nov.
29: 49ers vs. Seattle Seahawks Sunday, Dec. 6: 49ers at New York Giants Sunday, Dec. 13: 49ers vs. Los Angeles Rams Thursday, Dec. 17: 49ers at Los Angeles Chargers Sunday, Dec.
27: 49ers at Kansas City Chiefs Sunday, Jan. 3, 2027: 49ers vs. Philadelphia Eagles Saturday/Sunday, Jan. 9/10: 49ers at Arizona Cardinals More 49ers: Man who posed as 49ers player charged in $1.3M fraud scheme
