The San Francisco 49ers could be getting reinforcements off Injured Reserve following Mike Evans' injury Monday night.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan on Monday after the 49ers' 23-17 win over the Washington Commanders indicated veteran WR Christian Kirk could be in the mix at wide receiver for the 49ers when they visit the Atlanta Falcons in Week 7.
Kirk's practice window was opened in the lead up to Week 6 and he was originally listed as questionable on the injury report. The team downgraded him to "out" before the game and didn't activate him off IR. Shanahan said Kirk has a chance to play next week.
"Yeah, he's a possibility for next week," Shanahan said. "He had two good practices in, it was just his first two practices of the year. We were down on wideouts so it's still something that we discussed, but we decided to give him another week."
Kirk was listed as limited in all three Week 6 practices. Shanahan likely called it "two" practices because the final session is only a walk-through.
Still, if Evans is going to miss time as NBC Sports Bay Area's Jennifer Lee Chan reported, it would make sense that they'd activate Kirk if he's healthy after missing all of training camp and the first five weeks of the regular season with a calf strain. Without Evans or Kirk, the 49ers have Brandin Cooks, Jordan Watkins and Jacob Cowing healthy on the active roster at receiver. Veteran Malik Turner was up from the practice squad for Monday's game as well.
The 49ers receiving corps has been beat up all season long, and now they have even more complications in that group heading into Week 7. Activating Kirk could alleviate some of those issues.
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This article originally appeared on Niners Wire: New 49ers WR 'a possibility' to return Week 7 after Mike Evans injury