49ers DT Alfred Collins Out For Season With Torn Patellar Tendon

The 49ers were already bracing for a rough opener in Australia, and now it's worse. Adam Schefter reported Alfred Collins tore his patellar tendon at Monday's practice and is out for the season, per head coach Kyle Shanahan — a brutal blow just days before San Francisco kicks off the 2026 season against the Rams at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sept. 10.

Adam Schefter

@AdamSchefter

49ers DT Alfred Collins tore his patellar tendon at Monday’s practice and is out for the season, per HC Kyle Shanahan.

Collins, a second-round pick out of Texas in 2025, was coming off a solid rookie year — 17 tackles, a sack, and two forced fumbles across 16 games, including a fumble recovery at the goal line against these same Rams last season that helped seal a win. He was penciled in as a starter up front for a defense that was already thin before this. Now he's done before it starts.

The timing is what makes it sting. Eric Branch laid out just how much this defensive line has taken on the chin this offseason and preseason: Collins is the 49ers' second-round pick from 2025, and he joins first-round pick Ricky Pearsall — out for the season — and 2025 first-rounder Mykel Williams, who's coming off a torn ACL and expected to miss at least the first four games.

It doesn't stop there. Branch also noted the 49ers' third pick in 2025, Nick Martin, is already on injured reserve. Add it up and San Francisco is heading into a marquee international opener without three of its last two draft classes' top defensive investments, on top of Pearsall's absence on offense.

The production gap is the scary part. Branch pointed out that outside of Nick Bosa (64.5 career sacks) and Osa Odighizuwa (17), the rest of the 49ers' available defensive linemen for Thursday's opener have combined for just 9.5 career sacks. That's the pass rush Shanahan is bringing to Melbourne to face a Rams offense that's had San Francisco's number before.

There's also an ugly echo here for 49ers fans. Branch flagged that former second-round pick Drake Jackson tore his own patellar tendon back in November 2023 and never played another snap for the team — he was waived on a failed physical in May 2025 after John Lynch said Jackson struggled to fully recover. It's the same injury, and it's not exactly a reassuring recent history for how these heal in San Francisco's building. Collins is 24 and presumably has better odds than most, but the fanbase has seen this movie before.

For now, the 49ers just have to play the hand they've got. Collins will have surgery and go on injured reserve, and San Francisco opens the season Thursday night against the Rams trying to plug a line that's lost three of its last two draft classes' top picks before Week 1 even kicks off.