49ers "Hopeful" to get Javon Kinlaw Practicing After Seattle Game

There is a chance the 49ers could have Javon Kinlaw back at practice next week following their trip to Seattle.

Defensive line for the 49ers has been thinning recently. 

First it was Hassan Ridgeway who suffered a pec strain that will knock him out for the regular season. Now it is Kevin Givens (knee) and Kerry Hyder Jr. (ankle) who are each dealing with injuries. Depth is decreasing for the 49ers.

Luckily for them, there might be some light in the near future. The 49ers are "hopeful" to get Javon Kinlaw practicing next week after their trip to Seattle.

"Our goal was after the Seattle game," Kyle Shanahan said. "So we’re hopeful to get him back in practice, so that was our goal with it. We'll finish this game up and we'll see how it is when we come out on Monday, whether we start opening up his window or not.”

This is the most positive news, as blurry as it is, to hear about Kinlaw. He has a shot for the 49ers to activate his 21 day practice window from Injured Reserve. They definitely could use him as soon as possible with several defensive lineman dealing with injuries and out for a while. Do not expect any rush from the 49ers with Kinlaw just because they could really use his presence.

The slow and steady approach will surely be the route the 49ers take with Kinlaw. I would expect that the 49ers use the full 21 days of practice time to see where Kinlaw is at and to slowly ramp him up to see if he can handle game day duties. The 49ers have to be absolutely sure Kinlaw is good to go because they only have two Injured Reserve activations left. One of them is sure to go to Elijah Mitchell when they reach the playoffs, which leaves the other for presumably Kinlaw.

If they do that, then the 49ers will have to weigh the idea of keeping Jimmy Garoppolo on the active roster, which will put them a player down on game day. This is where using the full 21 days for Kinlaw will be helpful so they can really gauge where he is at and if he is good for the playoff run. The 49ers have time to decide and gain more clarity on two very important decisions.