Ex-Vikings Defender to Make 49ers Debut on MNF
The San Francisco 49ers will take on the Philip Rivers-led Indianapolis Colts on Monday night, and former Minnesota Vikings linebacker Eric Kendricks will be a part of the fun.
Kendricks didn’t land in San Francisco for nostalgia; he’s there for insurance, and MNF could be his first real snap count in red and gold.
Signed by San Francisco last month, the 49ers activated Kendricks from the practice squad, ensuring his availability if the club needs him.
Eric Kendricks’ First 49ers Action Could Come on MNF
Kendricks could take his first snaps of the 2025 season.
Kendricks Activated for MNF
About four hours before the tilt with Indianapolis, the news hit that Kendricks would be added to the gameday roster.
CBS Sports reported, “Eric Kendricks was elevated from the 49ers’ practice squad to the active roster Monday. The 33-year-old joined the 49ers’ practice squad in late November and is now in line to make his first appearance of the 2025 season during Monday night’s matchup against the Colts.”
“Kendricks last played for the Cowboys in 2024, recording 138 total tackles, including 3.0 sacks, three passes defensed, with two interceptions, and three forced fumbles over 15 contests. Now with San Francisco’s active roster, Kendricks is expected to operate as one of the team’s top inside linebackers.”
Kendricks has not yet taken a snap with the 49ers (or anywhere in 2025), so the promotion is noteworthy, especially with the playoffs less than three weeks away.
Will He Play?
Now, it’s a matter of whether Kendricks sees defensive snaps. The 49ers are already without the services of otherworldly linebacker Fred Warner. He’s on injured reserve. If Kendricks gets in on the action Monday night, he’ll do so among this linebacking corps:
- Dee Winters
- Tatum Bethune
- Luke Gifford
- Curtis Robinson
- Garret Wallow
Kendricks is wildly more experienced than those players. He’ll either be the first man up if an injury sidelines a 49ers inside linebacker or leapfrog Wallow, Robinson, and Gifford altogether.
NinersNation‘s Kyle Posey on Kendricks’ role: “The final practice squad activation is linebacker Eric Kendricks. You have to imagine that Kendricks did not come out of retirement to back up Tatum Bethune or sit on the sideline. Whether it’s on passing downs only, Robert Saleh will have a package for Kendricks.”
“He could very well be the 49ers’ answer to Tyler Warren, or taking away passes over the middle of the field. Kendricks in the lineup in any capacity with Bethune would mean Curtis Robinson returns to his special teams role. That is a win for everybody involved. The Colts activated defensive tackle DeForest Buckner from the Injured Reserve. This will be Buckner’s first game since Week 9.”
Career with the Vikings
Eric Kendricks didn’t just last in Minnesota — he anchored a couple of eras. Drafted in the 2nd Round in 2015, part of a class that quietly reshaped the franchise, he spent his early seasons finding footing before morphing into one of the league’s most dependable second-level defenders. By 2019, offenses had to account for him on every snap.
That season was the inflection point. Kendricks graduated from “solid starter” to bona fide difference-maker, earning First-Team All-Pro and Pro Bowl honors as the reward for a player whose game matured through preparation rather than flash. He became the rare linebacker who could diagnose, chase, and finish without leaving the unit exposed.
Over eight years in purple, he appeared in 117 games and started nearly all of them, compiling north of 900 tackles along with impact plays that never felt accidental. The numbers — tackles for loss, interceptions, disruption — told only part of it. Kendricks’ value lived in reliability, the kind that steadied entire defenses week after week.
When the front office turned over in 2022, Minnesota kept Kendricks around for one more run before finally closing the chapter the following spring. He carried that steadiness with him next, landing in Los Angeles and later Dallas, extending a career defined less by peaks than by the quiet trust coaches kept placing in him.
NFL Resume
The Baltimore Ravens initially reached out to Kendricks earlier in 2025, but he declined because, at the time, it was reported that he didn’t want to be on a team’s practice squad. He apparently shed that criteria by signing with the 49ers in November.
Here’s Kendricks’ NFL full resume through 11 seasons:
- Minnesota Vikings (2015–2022
- Los Angeles Chargers (2023)
- Dallas Cowboys (2024)
- San Francisco 49ers (2025)
The man will get at least one final postseason run with the 49ers.
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