The San Francisco 49ers are standing at 7-4, with the Carolina Panthers next on the docket on Monday Night Football at Levi’s Stadium in a must-win game for the former.
San Francisco is coming off a big 41-22 win over the Arizona Cardinals that got them back into the playoff picture, but they had some costly injuries in the game, losing linebacker Tatum Bethune and kicker Eddy Piniero for some time with ankle and hamstring injuries, respectively.
Both players had been in key roles for the 49ers, with
Bethune stepping up following the injury to Fred Warner, while Piniero took over for Jake Moody, who was waived, early in the season.
Now, the 49ers will have to go even deeper down the depth chart for their replacements, even having to sign a kicker off the streets on Wednesday.
At linebacker, Curtis Robinson is expected to step forward at the MIKE linebacker position. Many may wonder why rookie linebacker Nick Martin isn’t getting the opportunity. After all, he was a third-round pick this offseason.
However, Martin has been playing a different position all season long, as he’s been the backup to Luke Gifford, who has been San Francisco’s No. 3 linebacker. Finally, Martin saw the field defensively for the first time this past weekend, playing 14 defensive snaps as the No. 3 linebacker, as Gifford only saw two snaps.
The 49ers believe Martin is finally ready and are willing to let him develop through mistakes, while also showing their big nickel looks and other defensive looks. It’s the right time to hand Martin the keys since it’s arguably the easiest stretch of the 49ers schedule, so they can afford to let him go through ups and downs over the next month.
But, he won’t be the replacement for Bethune; Curtis Robinson is. Robinson has been with the 49ers since 2021, primarily playing special teams as a practice-squad player. But, with both Fred Warner and Bethune down now, he’ll step into the MIKE role, where he played 54 defensive snaps this past weekend.
Robinson was active with 12 tackles in his first big action of the season, but he’ll be tasked with communication and all the other responsibilities that come with the MIKE.
As for Piniero, the 49ers are going with Matt Gay, who was just released by the Washington Commanders this week after going 2/4 on field goals in a 16-13 loss to the Miami Dolphins.
Gay hasn’t been particularly good this year, going 13/19 on field goals, which ranks 37th among kickers. He has primarily struggled beyond 50+, going 4/9 in that range this year, so Kyle Shanahan could look to be more aggressive if the 49ers are in that range, rather than trust his kicker.
But, Gay has been 9/10 inside of 50 this season, so there is a sign of optimism. His best year came back in 2022, when he made 28/30 field goals for the Los Angeles Rams. Since then, though, he’s made 80.5 percent (2023), 83.8 percent (2024), and 68.4 percent (2025) of his field goals for different teams.
The accuracy from 50+ has been the big issue, as he’s gone 16/31 from that range over the last three years. So, his problem is very evident. It’s on the 49ers to work around it in the short term.
