The Broncos are a mostly healthy football team heading to the West Coast.
Denver will be without outside linebacker Dondrea Tillman, who was ruled out Friday with a hamstring injury. He is the only Denver player with a game designation.
Everyone else on the injury report this week — WRs Jaylen Waddle (foot) and Marvin Mims Jr. (foot) and RB J.K. Dobbins (hip) — practiced fully all week and is cleared to play.
Mims returns after a two-game absence and adds another dynamic option to both Denver’s passing game and as a returner. He is the Broncos’ primary punt returner and, head coach Sean Payton said earlier this year, will also see rotational kick return work.
Tillman is a role player, but has seen 77 snaps of defensive work through three games, good for 36% of Denver’s defensive snaps, and has been a special teams staple (75% of snaps).
The biggest question is how the Broncos will defend San Francisco’s run game and how Tillman’s loss affects Denver’s defense.
Nik Bonitto and Jonah Elliss have played an identical 134 snaps (62%) through three games and Que Robinson is at 40%. Those three could be asked to play more snaps this weekend. The Broncos could also use more defensive linemen, either by adjusting their front alignment or by using a defensive lineman in more of an edge role. Sai’Vion Jones would make sense, given how he played in college at LSU.
For the 49ers, Defensive linemen Nick Bosa and James Thompson Jr. are out, while WR Mike Evans and ILB Dre Greenlaw are questionable. San Francisco coach Kyle Shanahan said Evans will be a game-time decision.
Broncos release Lil’Jordan Humphrey, set to promote Adam Prentice
In an expected move, the Broncos are signing fullback Adam Prentice to the 53-man roster, a source confirmed to The Post.
Prentice has played in all three games and is part of Denver’s offensive and special-teams plans each week. He was released at the roster cutdown deadline in late August as a procedural move, with the understanding that he’d be promoted to the active roster when a spot opened up.
However, Denver has been relatively healthy and has placed only one player — running back Jonah Coleman — on injured reserve through the first three weeks. To make room for Prentice, the Broncos released receiver Lil’Jordan Humphrey on Friday, per the wire.
By making the move Friday, the Broncos can re-sign him to the practice squad Saturday and then have the option of elevating him to the game-day roster against San Francisco.
Sean Payton knows Raheem Morris’ defense extremely well
Sean Payton doesn’t call plays anymore, but he’s extremely familiar with San Francisco defensive coordinator Raheem Morris.
Morris’ second stint with Tampa Bay began in 2007, Payton’s second season in New Orleans. The pair have shared a division for 11 years total — Payton entirely with the Saints, Morris with the Bucs and then Atlanta.
Payton says he sees Morris’ imprint on the 49ers defense already and that his experience played a big role in Denver’s offensive planning this week.
“That was important this week in studying the cutups,” Payton said. “You’re trying to track — you’ve got three games this year and then what are we tracking going back? He’s done a really good job defensively. They’re playing really good red zone defense. They present a lot of problems.”
Payton didn’t say specifically when asked if he took a bigger role in the offensive meetings this week, but he, play-caller Davis Webb and the rest of the group have a lot of institutional knowledge in the building.
“The defense was different — this goes all the way back to when he was at Tampa,” Payton said of Morris. “I’ve known Raheem, gosh, for ages. Joint practice here with the Rams. He was in Atlanta. Tremendous coach with great juice. There’s a group of guys that you have real close friendships with. I’m glad they’re in the NFC.
“You see them one out of every four times and maybe in the last game.”
