Christian Kirk trending toward 49ers debut, says Kyle Shanahan

The San Francisco 49ers opened wide receiver Christian Kirk's practice window last week but decided he wasn't quite ready to return from injured reserve as he continued recovering from a calf injury.

Kirk has been a full participant in practices this week as the 49ers prepare for Sunday's Week 7 matchup against the Atlanta Falcons. His progress bodes well for his chances of being activated in time for the game.

Head coach Kyle Shanahan joined Bay Area radio station KNBR on Thursday and was asked whether Kirk could be activated this weekend.

"Yeah," Shanahan responded. "Hopefully, tomorrow goes well, but we didn't do anything yesterday, so it was hard to really judge guys. But today we just finished a full-speed practice, and I haven't watched the film yet, but he looked good out there.

"Talking to him, he felt good, and I think he felt good last week, so it's trending in the right direction right now."

Shanahan also explained why Kirk didn't make his 49ers debut in Monday night's game against the Washington Commanders. Although Kirk had been medically cleared to return to practice, the coaching staff didn't believe he was ready to play just yet.

"He got cleared to come back to practice," Shanahan said. "They said he was good from the medical standpoint, but he comes back, and he gets two practices in, and you're just not quite sure if he's there in football shape-wise."

If the 49ers decide to activate Kirk, the move will likely happen Saturday, along with any other roster transactions ahead of Sunday's game against the Falcons.