The 49ers on Tuesday officially announced the placement of punter Mitch Wishnowsky on the non-football injury list. They also announced the addition of cornerback Terrance Mitchell to their 90-man roster.
Wishnowsky is dealing with a back injury according to general manager John Lynch. The 31-year-old punter suffered the injury while lifting weights away from the team facility. He won’t count against a roster spot while he’s on the NFI, and the team can activate him any time. Lynch said the club isn’t concerned about a long-term back issue for their punter and won’t be adding a replacement to their offseason roster.
Mitchell, 31, joins a cornerback group that’s already dealing with an injury. Rookie CB Darrell Luter Jr. has a bone bruise in his leg that will keep him out for a few weeks per Lynch.
The new 49ers CB was a seventh-round pick of the Cowboys in the 2014 draft. He’s played in 94 games across his eight NFL seasons with the Cowboys, Bears, Chiefs, Browns, Texans and Titans. In those 94 games (56 starts) Mitchell has 305 tackles, nine interceptions, 63 pass breakups and 10 forced fumbles. His time with the Browns overlapped with Steve Wilks’ one season as their defensive coordinator in 2019.
Last year he started five of the 11 games he played in Tennessee and tallied one interception with four pass breakups to go along with his 39 tackles.
It’s not out of the question Mitchell could contend for a roster spot thanks to his familiarity with Wilks and a lack of certainty on the back end of the depth chart.
