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49ers' newest defensive lineman leaves practice with groin injury

Originally posted on San Francisco 49ers on SI
By Grant Cohn | Last updated Nov 6, 2025 8:03 PM ET

SANTA CLARA -- You can't make this up.

Year after year, the 49ers are the most injured team in the NFL. This season is no exception. So nine days ago, the 49ers traded a sixth-round pick to the New England Patriots for defensive tackle Keion White and a seventh-round pick.

And on Thursday, he left 49ers practice early with a groin injury. We'll find out more about the extent of the injury on Friday when head coach Kyle Shanahan speaks to the media for the final time before the 49ers' Week 10 game against the Los Angeles Rams.

White definitely was on the practice field for the first half of practice when reporters are allowed to watch from the sideline. Which means he must have suffered his groin injury after the media left.

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Thursday's always are the 49ers' most strenuous practice of the week. They wear full pads and stay on the field for roughly two hours. Last week, defensive tackle Yetur Gross-Matos reinjured his hamstring during a Thursday practice.

Unfortunately for the 49ers, White wasn't the only defensive lineman who went down on Thursday. Starting defensive tackle Kalia Davis also left early with an ankle injury that clearly didn't happen until after the media was gone. In addition, rookie defensive tackle Alfred Collins missed all of Thursday's practice with a hip injury that was not on Wednesday's injury report.

These new injuries come just a couple days after the 49ers' front office decided to do nothing on the day of the trade deadline despite losing Mykel Williams to a season-ending torn ACL this past Sunday. Meanwhile, the Eagles, who have the same number of wins as the 49ers (6), traded their third-round pick to the Miami Dolphins for edge rusher Jaelan Phillips, who's a real impact player.

In retrospect, the 49ers probably should have traded for Phillips.

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But no matter how many players the 49ers add, more of them keep getting injured. It's the strangest thing. Players with minimal injury history come to the 49ers and go down almost immediately.

If the 49ers don't have Collins, White and Davis on Sunday, it will be hard to envision them beating the Los Angeles Rams, who have won three games in a row. Meanwhile, their quarterback, Matthew Stafford, leads the league in touchdown passes with 21. What a terrible week to not have a defensive line.

It will be interesting to see how the 49ers' coaches work around this issue.

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

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