The San Francisco 49ers will be without their veteran left tackle in Week 8 as the team hosts the Carolina Panthers. Heading in to the week, Kyle Shanahan noted there was an "outside chance" Joe Staley would be active as the team officially listed him as doubtful for Sunday's game. Staley has missed the last four contests while dealing with a broken fibula suffered in the Week 2 win over the Cincinnati Bengals. While Staley was initially expected to miss 6-8 weeks, the tackle appears to be ahead of schedule, as he was a limited participant in this week's practices. Rookie Justin Skule will continue to get the start in his absence. The 49ers will be cautious in Staley's return as the team has a short turnaround ahead of their Week 9 Thursday night contest against the Arizona Cardinals.
"He needs to be good enough to make it through both games," Shanahan said this week. "He's obviously a little bit sore from working throughout the week, and we'll see how that responds in the next 24 hours. It would be a lot easier if he didn't have to be ready four days after that."
Marquise Goodwin was excused from this week's practices for personal reasons and was questionable heading into Sunday. The wideout has officially been ruled OUT against the Panthers. Despite being without Goodwin, newly acquired receiver Emmanuel Sanders will make his 49ers debut in Week 8.
Here's a look at who's in and who's out for Sunday:
49ers
- QB C.J. Beathard
- WR Marquise Goodwin
- CB Ahkello Witherspoon
- FB Kyle Juszczyk
- T Mike McGlinchey
- T Joe Staley
- DL Jullian Taylor
Panthers
- QB Cam Newton
- EDGE Christian Miller
- OT Greg Little
- WR Greg Dortch
- OL Bryan Witzmann
- DE Bryan Cox, Jr.
