The San Francisco 49ers did not wait long after their Week 1 statement in Australia to keep stocking the defensive line.
On Tuesday, the club agreed to add former Cincinnati Bengals defensive tackle McKinnley Jackson to the practice squad, a low-risk move that fits a front already thinned by injury and still chasing Super Bowl contention, via Matt Zenitz of CBS Sports.
Jackson is only 24, a 2024 third-round pick who Cincinnati selected 97th overall after an All-SEC career at Texas A&M. Listed at 6-foot-2 and 330 pounds, he is a compact interior presence rather than a length-and-leverage prototype.
Over two seasons with the Bengals, he appeared in 22 games with one start, including nine snaps last year as a reserve. Cincinnati cut him during final roster trimming after loading the defensive line with new bodies. That decision now becomes San Francisco’s opportunity.
The timing is not accidental. The 49ers opened the season with a 27-7 win over the Rams in Melbourne, but they did so while absorbing significant losses up front.
Second-year tackle Alfred Collins is out for the year with a torn patellar tendon. Veteran end Sam Okuayinonu is on injured reserve with a broken foot.
Proven depth behind Nick Bosa and newly acquired tackle Osa Odighizuwa is thin, and the practice squad has already been used as a working laboratory for players such as Sebastian Valdez and Kevin Givens.
Jackson gives defensive line coach Kris Kocurek another body who can eat snaps in practice, learn the one-gap looks San Francisco prefers, and be elevated if the next injury arrives.
Scouts have long described Jackson as explosive off the ball for his size, a “squatty” interior defender who can get into blockers quickly and attack their edges as a penetrator.
The same evaluations noted he can ride on blocks once they land and still needs cleaner hand counters as both a run stopper and a rusher.
Those are coaching points, not deal-breakers, especially on a practice squad where the 49ers can control his weight, technique, and role.
He may never have been a natural 0-technique nose in Cincinnati’s scheme. In Santa Clara he can be developed as a rotational interior piece in an even front.
For a franchise that has spent years turning mid-round and castoff linemen into useful parts, this is familiar business. Jackson does not have to start this week. He only has to prove he belongs in the building.
If he does, the Bengals’ roster crunch becomes another small win in the 49ers’ search for defensive-line insurance.
