Suddenly riddled with injuries throughout their starting lineup, the 49ers will return a player from their injured list. Kyle Shanahan said defensive end Kentavius Street will return from IR to take D.J. Jones‘ roster spot, Matt Barrows of The Athletic tweets.

Street has yet to play an NFL down. The 2018 fourth-round pick missed all of his rookie season and has spent this one on IR. The 49ers have been patient with the North Carolina State alum but are set to finally see him in action.

An ankle injury ended Jones’ season. He joins Ronald Blair on San Francisco’s IR list. Street’s activation will help a 49ers team that also saw Dee Ford aggravate his hamstring injury. Ford has dealt with maladies throughout his 49ers tenure, and it’s not certain the former Pro Bowler will be back before the playoffs begin.

One of Bradley Chubb‘s sidekicks with the Wolfpack, Street fell to the fourth round because of an ACL tear he suffered before the draft. Street registered eight sacks and 15.5 tackles for loss in his final two college seasons. Although he showed flashes in the 49ers’ preseason slate this year, he was forced to undergo arthroscopic knee surgery in September. The surgery went well, and the team recently designated Street as a candidate to return from IR.

The hits keep coming for the 49ers. On Thursday, head coach Kyle Shanahan announced that defensive tackle D.J. Jones will miss the rest of the season thanks to a serious ankle injury. The Niners placed Jones on IR and they’re expected to fill his spot on the roster on Friday.

This news comes at an inopportune time for San Francisco, as the team is likely to be without Richard Sherman and Dee Ford for multiple games, and Weston Richburg and Marquise Goodwin were recently placed on IR. Jones, while not a household name like Sherman and Ford, has started all eleven games in which he’s appeared this year, and he has served as a solid run-stuffer in the Niners’ excellent defense.

The 49ers selected Jones in the sixth round of the 2017 draft, and he cracked the starting lineup for the first time in 2018, starting four out of the 10 games in which he saw action. This year, he became a fixture along the interior of the D-line and also recorded the first two sacks of his career.

The good news is that the injury to Jones could open the door for Kentavius Street to make his long-awaited debut, according to Shanahan. Street, a fourth-round selection in the 2018 draft, only fell to the fourth round because of an ACL tear he suffered before the draft, and although he showed flashes in the 49ers’ preseason slate this year, he was forced to undergo arthroscopic knee surgery in September. The surgery went well, and the team recently designated Street as a candidate to return from IR.