Former Viking to Take Center Stage in Playoffs for 49ers
Injuries have utterly ravaged the San Francisco 49ers, and it’s a miracle that they finished 2025 with a 12-5 record. The list is so long that it’s remarkable San Francisco didn’t just roll over and die. Well, thanks to some morbid injury “luck,” beloved former Minnesota Vikings linebacker will take center stage for the 49ers in the postseason, which begins this weekend.
With San Francisco’s defense bruised, Kendricks has a path to real snaps in January, and his steady, veteran talent fits what the 49ers need.
Kendricks is the next man up for San Francisco, and it appears that he played his cards right by signing with Kyle Shanahan’s practice squad weeks ago.
Injuries Open a Playoff Lane for Eric Kendricks in San Francisco
Kendricks rides again in the postseason.
49ers LB Tatum Bethune Out for Playoffs
Sadly, Bethune won’t partake in the 49ers’ playoff run, sidelined this week from the rest of the season.
ESPN’s Nick Wagoner wrote Monday, “With a potential playoff return for star linebacker Fred Warner still at least a couple of weeks away, the San Francisco 49ers took another hit at the position Monday.”
“In his afternoon conference call, 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan announced that Tatum Bethune, the player who replaced Warner when he broke his right ankle in Week 6, will miss the postseason because of a torn groin. With Bethune out, the 49ers are still hoping for a surprise return by Warner, but that won’t happen this week in the NFC wild-card round against the Philadelphia Eagles.”
Betune started eight games for the 49ers in 2025 after Fred Warner went down with an injury, so it’s another major blow for a team with Super Bowl dreams.
Kendricks … In
Due to the obscene amount of injuries, Kendricks will get the nod, almost by default.
NBC Sports‘ Mike Florio noted Tuesday, “Linebacker Eric Kendricks steps in, as the replacement for Tatum Bethune, who was the replacement for Fred Warner. And it was Kendricks who helped dramatically reshape coach Kyle Shanahan’s offensive approach during the 2019 postseason.”
“Now, Shanahan is figuratively putting the ball in Kendricks’s hands as the man to handle the middle linebacker position until Warner is ready to return. If the 49ers can get that far. For Kendricks, it’s only his second playoff game since that day at Levi’s Stadium. And he’ll get the start in Philadelphia, on the same field where he played his only career NFC Championship game.”
Kendricks is battle-tested and then some, and he won’t bat an eye over getting major work in the playoffs. In fact, a couple of months ago, the former Viking turned down a practice squad contract from the Baltimore Ravens, a decision that is now wholly vindicated.
49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said about Kendricks this week, “I’m real confident in Eric. He’s been here long enough. These games he has gotten in the last couple weeks, he’s done a good job, and I’m glad that we’ve got him for this situation.”
Time with the Vikings
Kendricks helped define the Mike Zimmer era in Minnesota. A 2nd-Round selection in 2015, he arrived as part of a draft class that reset the franchise’s foundation, along with Danielle Hunter and Stefon Diggs. The early years were developmental for Kendricks, then the game slowed for him. By 2019, offenses were forced to track him at all times.
That season marked the turn. Kendricks moved from dependable starter into a true driver of dominance, earning First-Team All-Pro and Pro Bowl recognition. He was a field general, holding down the middle of Zimmer’s vaunted defense.
Across eight seasons in purple, Kendricks played 117 games and started almost all of them, piling up more than 900 tackles along with 9 interceptions and 15 sacks.
Roster changes arrived in 2022, and Minnesota gave him one final run before moving on the following spring. Kendricks carried the same steadiness to Los Angeles (Chargers) and then Dallas, before landing in San Francisco this season.
Now he’ll presumably start in the postseason. Staying power.
All the 49ers’ Injuries
Shield your eyes — these are all the 49ers’ injuries:
- Brandon Aiyuk (WR)
- Ben Bartch (OG)
- Nick Bosa (DE)
- Jacob Cowing (WR)
- Tarron Jackson (DE)
- Nick Martin (LB)
- Jakob Robinson (CB)
- Kurtis Rourke (QB)
- Patrick Taylor (RB)
- Trent Taylor (WR)
- Tre Tomlinson (CB)
- Fred Warner (LB)
- Mykel Williams (DE)
Winning 12 games and having a puncher’s chance at reaching the Super Bowl is mind-boggling without players like Aiyuk, Bosa, Warner, and Williams. It would be like the Vikings in the same spot without Justin Jefferson, Jonathan Greenard, Blake Cashman, and Dallas Turner.
Kendricks will turn 34 next month, meaning the next game — maybe multiple — could be his last.
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