49ers count on 2 unlikely contributors at linebacker for playoff run

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SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — Eric Kendricks was sitting at home waiting for the right opportunity when the San Francisco 49ers called him Thanksgiving week with the offer of a spot on the practice squad.

Garret Wallow was picked up by San Francisco off waivers in December after being cast off by the Denver Broncos.

The two linebackers who were afterthoughts for most of the 2025 season played key roles for the banged-up San Francisco 49ers in their wild-card win over the Philadelphia Eagles that set up a divisional round matchup against Seattle on Saturday.

Kendricks had 10 tackles, including two for loss, and broke up a fourth-down pass that sealed a 23-19 win for the 49ers (13-5). Wallow had 11 tackles and a pass defensed in his first start in three years as the two were part of a defense that held Philadelphia to just a pair of field goals on the final seven drives.

“I don’t think they just stepped up and got through the game,” coach Kyle Shanahan said. "I think they played at a high level.”

It's been a season filled with some unlikely contributors for a 49ers team ravaged by injuries from Jake Tonges' winning touchdown catch in the opener to Eddy Pineiro's near-perfect mark on field goals to Kendrick Bourne's 142-yard receiving game that fueled a Week 5 upset against the Los Angeles Rams.

Kendricks and Wallow were just the latest surprise contributors.

Kendricks, who spurned San Francisco at the last minute in the 2024 free agency period, had been sitting out his season waiting for the right opportunity after spending last season in Dallas and undergoing shoulder surgery in late January.

“I was ready to sign with a team in the offseason. I really was. If something felt right," he said. “It was about me getting a playbook and getting in there with the guys. But it was just me being patient, not being too eager to jump on something that didn’t feel right, and just waiting for that right opportunity.”

That came when the 49ers called in November when Tatum Bethune went down with an ankle injury.

Kendricks’ typical day before joining the Niners featured a 5:20 a.m. alarm for a 6 a.m. workout. He’d then return home to wake up his two young kids and cook pancakes for his son and eggs for his daughter. He’d then head back out for more workouts and recovery before starting over the next day.

“I tried to keep myself busy, tried to stay in a routine because I just knew if I needed to be ready, I was going to be ready,” he said.

He has shown that he was ready.

The 33-year-old Kendricks was slowed by his own injuries at first. But he was healthy enough to be elevated from the practice squad to the active roster for the final three games, playing just 46 defensive snaps.

When Bethune went down with a season-ending groin injury in Week 18, Kendricks was promoted to the 53-man roster and started the playoff opener as the middle linebacker calling the defensive signals.

He's handled the role seamlessly with help from assistant coach and former NFL linebacker K.J. Wright, who entered the NFL only four years before Kendricks in 2011.

“I’ve been kind of just knocking on his meeting door, getting extra time with him since I got here,” Kendricks said. “Whether it’s super early in the morning or after meetings, I feel like he’s got me prepared. We went through a bunch of situations, watched a bunch of film together.”

That paid off on the final defensive play against the Eagles. Kendricks lined up like he might be blitzing but dropped back and broke up a pass near the goal line from Jalen Hurts to Dallas Goedert on fourth-and-11 in the final minute.

Now Kendricks, who went to the playoffs four times in his first eight seasons with Minnesota, is two wins away from making his first Super Bowl.

“I would say it’s unlikely because I was not on a team for so long, so a little bit unlikely,” he said. “From the outside looking in, I think it may look super unlikely, but being in the building for the last month and some change now, it’s not a question by me of why we’re in the situation we’re in. I believe in this team.”

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