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49ers Sign Offensive Tackle Charlie Heck

The 49ers need bodies.

Grant Cohn

Oct 24, 2021; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Houston Texans offensive tackle Charlie Heck (67) against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
Oct 24, 2021; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Houston Texans offensive tackle Charlie Heck (67) against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images / Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
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The 49ers need bodies.

That's why they just signed offensive tackle Charlie Heck of the Arizona Cardinals practice squad. Because in a corresponding move, the 49ers placed backup left tackle Jaylon Moore on Injured Reserve. And starting left tackle Trent Williams is out for the season, too. Which means Heck might have to play on Monday night against the Detroit Lions.

The 49ers' first choice to start at left tackle is Spencer Burford, and if he's healthy, he'll play. Ideally, Heck will be nothing more than an insurance policy as he tries to learn the 49ers' complex offensive scheme as quickly as possible. Unfortunately for the 49ers, Burford has a calf strain and it's unclear whether he can or should play against the Lions. If there's a risk that he could make his calf injury worse or potentially tear his Achilles, he absolutely should not play considering the 49ers already have been eliminated from the playoffs.

Here's the good news for the 49ers: Heck should be ready to play in a pinch if the 49ers need him to. He's a former fourth-round pick who has 21 games in the NFL. The Texans drafted him, and in 2023 he played for DeMeco Ryans and Bobby Slowik who came from the 49ers. Which means Heck should be familiar with Kyle Shanahan's terminology.

The 49ers probably don't have high expectations for Heck. He's the best player they could find under the circumstances. If he can simply keep Brock Purdy healthy, Heck will do his job.

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Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

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