The 49ers opened a spot on their 53-man roster Sunday when they placed defensive lineman Kentavius Street on injured reserve. They used that opportunity to bolster a shallow safety group by re-signing veteran safety Antone Exum Jr.
Street is eligible to return from IR after Week 8. San Francisco’s Week 9 game is their Thursday night matchup with the Cardinals in Arizona. He spent all of last season on the non-football injury list following a torn ACL in a pre-draft workout with the Giants. He had arthroscopic surgery Friday on that knee according to Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports.
That procedure should put him back on the field in time to contribute this season. The 49ers have enough depth along the defensive front that Street’s absence shouldn’t impact them a ton, though he did have a strong training camp. Getting a player with his strength on fresh legs halfway through the year could wind up being a nice boost for San Francisco’s front seven.
Exum played well in 15 games with seven starts last season, had one of the team’s two interceptions and scored their lone defensive touchdown. He’s able to bounce between free and strong safety, which is valuable for a club that has only one true strong safety on the roster in Jaquiski Tartt.
The 49ers signed Exum midway through the 2017 campaign after the Vikings cut their former sixth-round pick. He joins a 53-man roster that kept only three safeties, including Tartt, Jimmie Ward and Tarvarius Moore.
