Shanahan has wise message to 49ers’ 53-man roster hopefuls

All NFL teams need to trim their rosters to 53 players by Tuesday at 1 p.m. PT, but 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan stresses to each player released from the club that it is not necessarily the end of their journey with the organization. "It's a huge thing," Shanahan said on Sunday via conference call. "I always try to make a point of it. One of the things I say a lot is that, they talk about it being the final 53,' but never in the history of football has the final 53 been the final 53. That's just the final 53 on Tuesday at one o'clock." Shanahan and the 49ers not only have brought back previously released players to the practice squad in the past, but eventually elevated them to active game-day rosters, even in their biggest games of the year. "It's always changing," Shanahan said. "And you've got 53 guys who you decide on then, you've got 16 on practice squad. That changes a ton throughout the year." The 49ers currently have players in the starting lineup whose journies originated on the practice squad, including offensive lineman Colton McKivitz, wide receiver Jauan Jennings and linebacker Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles. Wideout Chris Conley started on the practice squad in 2023 and...