SANTA CLARA – The 49ers kept alive an annual ritual of adding a veteran player, beating Tuesday’s NFL trade deadline to acquire defensive tackle Khalil Davis from the Houston Texans, a league source confirmed.
Two hours later, the 49ers further addressed their defensive depth by re-signing safety Tashaun Gipson to the practice squad, a source confirmed.
Otherwise, the 49ers’ latest playoff push will revolve around their own reinforcements, and they may tout the NFL’s biggest midseason upgrade. Running back Christian McCaffrey should make his season debut Sunday when the 49ers (4-4) visit the Tampa Bay Bucs (4-5), so long as McCaffrey’s Achilles issues don’t flare up after this week’s re-entry to practice.
In other moves, linebacker Jalen Graham was waived from the active roster and kicker Anders Carlson was released from the practice squad after two games, a sign that Jake Moody is ready to return from last month’s high ankle sprain.
Gipson, a 49ers starter the past two seasons, was released Monday by the Jacksonville Jaguars. He had been on the NFL’s commissioner’s exempt list in the wake of July’s six-game suspension for violating the league’s performance-enhancing drug policy.
Gipson offers veteran experience while the 49ers have relied on young starters Ji’Ayir Brown and Malik Mustapha; former All-Pro safety Talanoa Hufanga is on injured reserve with no guarantees he will return from a wrist injury.
Davis’ arrival, for a 2026 seventh-round pick, bolsters the 49ers’ stock of defensive tackles in the wake of Javon Hargrave’s exit to a torn triceps in Week 3. The need at defensive tackle was glaring, and helping address that will be Davis — not to be confused with Kalia Davis, the 49ers’ third-year veteran who has played four games on the defensive interior.
Khalil Davis (6-foot-1, 300 pounds) has played 27 games since breaking into the NFL as a 2020 sixth-round pick of the Bucs. That includes 24 games, 22 tackles, three sacks and one start since joining the Houston Texans in 2023 and reviving his career. He also had stints with the Indianapolis Colts (2021), Pittsburgh Steelers (2021, practice squad), the Bucs again (2022, practice squad), the Los Angeles Rams (2022, practice squad) and the 2023 Birmingham Stallions of the United States Football League.
The 49ers will still rely heavily on free-agent additions Maliek Collins (Davis’ ex-Houston teammate) and Jordan Elliott, with other relief available via Kevin Givens, Evan Anderson and practice-squad options T.Y. McGill and Nesta Jade Silvera. Expected to rejoin the fray as an interior pass rusher is Yetur Gross-Matos, whose recovery from knee surgery had him working on the side Monday.
Left tackle Trent Williams expressed confidence in the 49ers Monday, whether they make major additions or not: “We’ve got more than enough in this locker room to go to war with anybody.”
By mostly idling on trade deadline day, the 49ers must lean on their depth to overcome their two biggest losses in the first half of this season – we’re talking personnel in wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk and Hargrave, not their divisional collapses to the Los Angeles Rams and the Arizona Cardinals.
At wide receiver, first-round draft pick Ricky Pearsall is two games into a rookie season delayed by an unfathomable gunshot wound through his chest. With Jauan Jennings expected to play through a hip muscle injury, and with Deebo Samuel presumably recovered from last month’s bout with pneumonia, the receiving corps was not desperate for veteran help, as it was in 2019 with the trade-deadline move for Emmanuel Sanders.
Thus, the 49ers were not compelled to pony up the type of mid-round draft pick that others did for DeAndre Hopkins (Chiefs), Amari Cooper (Bills), Davante Adams (Jets), Diontae Johnson (Ravens), Mike Williams (Steelers) and Jonathan Mingo (Cowboys).
A year ago, the 49ers brought in not just one but two defensive ends before the deadline, though neither Chase Young (third-round pick) nor Randy Gregory (sixth-rounder, with a seventh in return) delivered ideal production.
This year, three of the 49ers’ biggest competitors for the Super Bowl traded for defensive end help without coughing up a Day 1 or 2 draft pick: the Lions added Za’Darius Smith (Browns), the Chiefs brought in Josh Uche (Patriots), the Steelers poached Preston Smith (Packers), and the Cardinals got themselves an Ohio State product in Baron Browning (Broncos).
Since coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch arrived in 2017, the 49ers traded near or at the deadline every previous season except in 2018. Their haul of imports:
2017: Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo (Patriots, second-round pick)
2019: Wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders (Broncos; third and fourth round picks, with fifth in return).
2020: Defensive end Jordan Willis (Jets; sixth round, with seventh in return), 2021: Defensive end Charles Omenihu (Texans; sixth round)
2022: Running back Christian McCaffrey (Panthers; second, third, fourth, fifth round)
2023: Defensive ends Randy Gregory (Broncos; sixth round, with seventh in return) and Chase Young (Commanders; third round)
NOTE: Tom Brady will be on Fox Sports’ broadcast of Sunday’s game; that same crew worked the 49ers’ last two defeats, home losses last month to Arizona and Kansas City.
