Christian Kirk Camp Update — August 23: Four Weeks Out as Cutdown Nears
2026 NFL Season · Sunday, Aug 23
Kirk is still sidelined by the calf strain from the first day of camp, now four weeks old, and he missed another week of joint practices and preseason snaps. The role he signed for keeps being handed out — eleven preseason catches of it to a rookie.
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Christian Kirk stayed on the sideline all week. David Bonilla at 49ers Webzone listed him Tuesday as still sidelined by the recurring calf strain that has kept him out since July 26, and he was not among the players who returned at Saturday's practice, per Bonilla's session report. That makes four weeks — no joint practice against Tennessee, none against the Chargers, no preseason snaps — with no reported timetable in any accessed coverage.
The room kept moving without him. Rookie De'Zhaun Stribling is up to 11 catches for a hundred nine yards through two preseason games, including three receptions on Brock Purdy's only drive Thursday, per Brooke Evans at 49ers.com. Mike Evans returned from his own bout of tightness to catch a red-zone touchdown Saturday, and Deebo Samuel caught a scoring throw in the same session, per Bonilla. Every healthy receiver in the building is banking August reps with the quarterbacks; Kirk is banking none.
Back in June the preview flagged a third injury-shaped season as the live risk on Kirk's one-year deal, and the injury side has written the whole camp. The calendar now does the rest of the arguing: the roster goes to 53 on Sunday, and a veteran on a modest deal who hasn't practiced in a month is exactly the profile cutdown decisions get made about. What to watch: any return to practice before Thursday's finale in Las Vegas, and the roster call itself. We'll check after cut day.
_Data via nflverse._
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