49ERS ANNOUNCE ROSTER MOVES
The San Francisco 49ers today announced they have signed OL Senio (SENN-ee-oh) Kelemete (KEL-uh-MET-tay) to a one-year deal. In order to make room on the roster, the team has waived/injured OL Justin Skule.
Kelemete (6-3, 301) was originally drafted by the Arizona Cardinals in the fifth round (151st overall) of the 2012 NFL Draft. Throughout his nine-year career, he has played with Arizona (2012-13), the New Orleans Saints (2014-17) and Houston Texans (2018-20). Kelemete has appeared in 88 games (42 starts) along the offensive line and also saw action in three postseason contests (one start). Last season, he appeared in 14 games (five starts) for Houston prior to his release from the team on February 23, 2021.
A 31-year-old native of Seattle, WA, Kelemete attended the University of Washington (2008-11) and saw action in 46 games (41 starts). Over his final two seasons (2010-11), he started 26 consecutive games at left tackle for the Huskies.
Skule (6-6, 315) has appeared in 31 games (12 starts) and three postseason contests since being drafted by San Francisco in the sixth round (183rd overall) of the 2019 NFL Draft.
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Santa Clara – The 49ers have abruptly canceled the final day of OTAs ( organized team activity) along with their mandatory minicamp that was scheduled for June 15-17. The team lost two key players this week to season-ending injuries.
Yesterday both players, Safety Tarvarious Moore and Offensive lineman Justin Skule were hurt during practice. Moore tore his Achilles and Skule suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his knee. The 49ers are still deep in both positions but want a healthy roster to kick-off the season.
“Jeff [Wilson] got hurt sitting down in a chair in the locker room, he got out of it and his knee got in an awkward position. Obviously it was a freak, unfortunate accident,” said head coach Kyle Shanahan . T-Moore hurt his Achilles on air. No one was by him, he backpedaled and he went to go break forward and it just gave out. And Skule in a pass protection drill, going against someone he put his foot down and his knee just buckled.
So three unfortunate injuries, two on the field. I think the hard thing was the two on the field. We had a clean camp, no one got a serious injury like that. And then we had two guys in three plays with Tarvarius and Skule. So that was a little depressing. You hate seeing that, but you know, last year we didn’t have an offseason we lost four people before training camp started.”
Last year the 49ers were dealt with countless injuries that included losing wide receiver Deebo Samuel to a broken foot in the offseason. Cornerback D.J Reed to a torn pec, cornerback Teez Tabor to a broken foot, and wide receiver Richie James to a broker wrist. Then later in the season they lost QB Jimmy Garoppolo (ankle injury), defensive end Nick Bosa (torn ACL) and George Kittle (broken bone in foot).
“We got two people hurt on the field in OTAs, seven practices,” Shanahan explained. “And it’s very unfortunate because those two guys are having a great practice and Jeff got hurt before it started.”
Bosa who had been rehabbing in Florida was present at the 49er facility this week. He thought he would stay until minicamp but had no idea Shanahan canceled the remaining offseason programs after two players got injured.
“He can’t take part in much because he’s still rehabbing too, but he’s been here all week and he’s been good,” said Shanahan. “But he came for a shorter visit than expected. He thought he was going to come for two weeks, but I didn’t let him know until I let the whole team know we weren’t doing minicamp.
“We’re totally done. We really finished up our exit meetings today, really with everybody. We’re still going to keep the rookies around here for a little bit, some more than others. I kind of decided a while ago we weren’t going to do minicamp. I rarely do minicamp when we get nine OTAs in, we usually do one practice and then we have like a team building thing throughout that. But I mean, we really had 89 people show up to OTAs, which was unbelievable.”
Photo by 49ers/Meg Williams