San Francisco Lost Nick Bosa Friday and Got Dre Greenlaw Back Tuesday

Three rows on Friday's final injury report belonged to San Francisco players this desk could not resolve on Thursday. All three closed the same way.

Nick Bosa is out with a knee — this desk printed a calf two days ago — and Kyle Shanahan called Bosa's own return timeline "a little too optimistic," per David Lombardi of SFStandard.com. Deebo Samuel Sr. is out with a hamstring, Mike Evans with an Achilles, both per Matt Barrows of The Athletic.

So the 6-0 team arrives at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Sunday without its best pass rusher and two receivers. That is the gift. The rest of the report is the cost of taking it.

San Francisco's week was not all subtraction

Dre Greenlaw was reinstated Tuesday after a one-game suspension and goes back into the starting lineup at weakside linebacker. Mykel Williams, a non-participant to open the week, practiced in full Friday and starts opposite Keion White; he inherits Bosa's snaps and he is healthy. Jaden Dugger also went full Friday, starts opposite Greenlaw, and led San Francisco with 11 tackles in Week 6, per ESPN's note on Fred Warner.

Depth did thin — Garret Wallow (hamstring) and Luke Gifford (groin) are out — but among starters, that front seven is a net addition in the week it loses Bosa.

What San Francisco keeps

Brock Purdy went 21 of 29 for 264 yards and a touchdown in Week 6, San Francisco 23, Washington 17. Christian McCaffrey ran 16 times for 64 yards and two scores and caught nine of 10 targets, his long run nine yards — volume, not explosion. George Kittle caught five of eight for 69 and a touchdown.

Then the number that governs the receiver subtraction: McCaffrey and Kittle took 18 of Purdy's 29 attempts between them. The two highest-volume targets in that offense are a back and a tight end, and neither is on the report. Brandin Cooks and Jordan Watkins are the names the feed expects to absorb the outside work.

Atlanta answered with four

Atlanta ruled out Brian Robinson Jr. (hamstring), Billy Bowman Jr. (hamstring), Divine Deablo (forearm) and Michael Jerrell (biceps); The Falcoholic reported the same four.

Kevin Stefanski said Friday that Khalil Herbert slots in behind Bijan Robinson. Herbert is a practice-squad back who has to be elevated Saturday to dress at all, with 16 carries for 52 yards across seven Jets appearances last season, per ESPN's note.

Six cornerbacks, and what the number does not say

Atlanta's active roster lists six: Bowman (33), Mike Ford Jr. (28), C.J. Henderson (26), Mike Hughes (21), Robert Longerbeam (37) and Avieon Terrell (12). Set against Friday's designations, that is one ruled out, two questionable and three carrying nothing at all. Bowman is the row that moved against this desk's own copy: questionable Thursday, out Friday, with Sydney Brown expected to absorb his defensive snaps.

Undesignated is not cleared. Both team groups on that board returned exactly 25 rows, which is the cap, so absence from it establishes nothing — and the roster's own status field reads "Active" for all six, including the one who will not play. Of the three, only Mike Hughes carries affirmative evidence, and it is thin: ESPN's feed names him as an expected outside starter.

C.J. Henderson (groin) missed Week 6 and practiced in full Friday, which ESPN calls a positive sign. Avieon Terrell, number 12 — six games played, six tackles against Chicago for a season high — is questionable with a back, on a row nobody has touched since Wednesday evening. He is not A.J. Terrell Jr., number 24, who has not appeared since Week 2 and whose availability Sunday the league's own feed states two incompatible ways. I print neither, which is why I also cannot tell you how many corners Atlanta dresses.

One correction I owe you from Thursday night: Cameron Thomas's row now reads Active with no injury, which takes the ten and a half of fifteen sacks I put on that report down to eight and a half. The line itself was Thursday's other piece, and nothing on Friday's board is a reason to reopen it.

The fourth home game

Sunday is Atlanta's fourth game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. It is 0-3 in the first three, and the reason that number governs how you price Friday's news has little to do with the record.

Week 6 is the better evidence. Chicago 31, Atlanta 23: Atlanta held the ball for 19:52 against Chicago's 40:08, converted three of 12 third downs, gained 257 yards to 368 and gave it away three times. Bijan Robinson carried nine times for 61 yards. That is 6.8 a carry from the most efficient thing this offense does, used nine times, because the script took the lever away long before the second running back mattered.

Friday handed Atlanta a diminished opponent and San Francisco a reshuffled front rather than a broken one. The subtraction that settles Sunday is neither Bosa's nor Brian Robinson Jr.'s. It is whichever side holds the ball long enough for the players it still has to matter, and through three games in this building, Atlanta has not been that side.