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3 San Francisco 49ers who are trending down

Originally posted on San Francisco 49ers on SI
By Parker Hurley | Last updated Nov 18, 2025 1:00 PM ET

The San Francisco 49ers are starting to make adjustments to their roster as they head into a playoff push. That means potentially seeing much less of a few players who were getting on the field earlier in the season.

Kendrick Bourne is the odd man out

The 49ers leaned on Bourne heavily in Weeks 5 and 6. However, he is almost fully out of the rotation now. He played just 23.6% of the offensive snaps in Week 11, which is the first time he was under 50% of the snaps since Week 3. Bourne did not see a target in the game.

Jauan Jennings was hurt, then Ricky Pearsall was hurt. However, both of them are back, and while Demarcus Robinson has not produced much, he is getting work over Bourne. We may see Bourne here and there, but he is done getting regular snaps.

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Spencer Burford may be done playing

Spencer Burford jumped straight from the IR to the starting lineup, but that appears to be short-lived. Burford played a full slate of snaps in Week 9, but has split snaps with Ben Bartch in the past two weeks. Bartch saw his snaps increase from Week 10 to 11, and Burford saw his snaps decrease.

Bartch has clearly been the better player when he is on the field as well. The team needs their offense to reach their full potential, so they should be planning to move to Bartch full-time.

The 49ers had Malik Mustapaha play part-time for two weeks before he returned full-time, so the plan may be to get Bartch full-time work in Week 12. That would mean no snaps for Burford.

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The San Francisco 49ers should bench Jason Pinnock

Jason Pinnock was benched after Week 5, but he has played 80 snaps in the 49ers' dime look since then. However, he has not been good in that role. Pinnock allowed five catches, including a touchdown, in his expanded role against the Arizona Cardinals. That should signal a time to switch things up, as he was one of the few issues in that game.

Marques Sigle has a skill set that could fit the role well. He has been inactive in recent weeks, but the 49ers should try to get the rookie involved again after starting for five weeks to start his career. They should give him this role over Pinnock, who may not be seeing the field much anymore.

This article first appeared on San Francisco 49ers on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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