The 49ers are Unusually Thin at Defensive End Heading into Week 1

This is concerning.

IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The 49ers will face Matthew Stafford in seven days, and it's unclear who their defensive ends will be.

Nick Bosa probably will be one of them. He practiced in full for the first time since tearing his ACL on Wednesday and made the trip with the team to Australia. Assuming his patellar knee tendinitis doesn't flare up again, he will start and play lots of snaps against the Rams even if he's not quite ready, because the 49ers are desperate.

Defensive end Sam Okuayinonu did not travel with the team to Australia -- he stayed home with a foot injury he must have suffered during Wednesday's practice. The team lists him as questionable for the season opener, so there's still a possibility he will fly to Australia at some point between now and the game, but that seems unlikely. The fact that the 49ers left him at home seems to indicate that they don't expect him to play.

Then, there's rookie third-round pick Romello Height. He currently has an ankle injury that has kept him out for the past two weeks. He made the trip to Australia, so the 49ers are holding out hope that he can play. But even if he does play, how good will he be? He's a pass-rush specialist who generated zero pressures during the preseason.

Finally, the 49ers have Keion White, their one healthy defensive end. He missed OTAs because he got shot in the foot after the Super Bowl, and he missed a couple weeks of training camp with an adductor injury. But he's good now. Which means he might have to play the entire game against the Rams next week. He most likely will start at defensive end and then move to defensive tackle on third down.

Expect the 49ers to call up veteran defensive end Ogbo Okoronkwo from the practice squad for this game. He looked solid during the preseason -- better than Romello Height. One of those two will play defensive end in clear passing situations, as neither one is a particularly good run defender.

Until Height comes back, the 49ers have just three healthy defensive ends -- White, Okoronkwo and Bosa. And Bosa isn't in football shape yet. Ideally, he would not play a full game right out of the gate. He would work himself back into action slowly. The 49ers would be careful with him by putting him on a pitch count. Because if he were to rupture the patellar tendon that currently has tendinitis, his career would be in jeopardy.

If Bosa is healthy enough to play most of the snaps in the season opener, expect the Rams to run the ball right at him as much as they can. Which means he'll spend most of the game getting double -teamed, not rushing the quarterback one-on-one.

Perhaps the 49ers will sign a veteran free-agent defensive end such as Leonard Floyd or Yetur Gross-Matos. But whoever they sign has to have a passport and a desire to fly 16 hours to Australia and then 14 hours back for what could be a one-game stint with the 49ers.

This is one reason why the Rams are waiting until next week to fly to Australia. Staying in California allows them to tweak their roster and add players if necessary. Meanwhile, the 49ers essentially locked in their roster the moment they flew to Melbourne.

We'll see if Okuayinonu catches up with the team in a few days. They need him.