49ers won't play many starters on Thursday night

The Titans plan to play their starters in Thursday’s preseason opener against the 49ers, but they won’t have many first-stringers lined up against them.

49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said at a press conference on Tuesday that the team will be sitting most of its starters.

“There won’t be many starters playing,” Shanahan said. “We’ll see, with injuries today and stuff — and that doesn’t mean none. But we’ve got to balance that out. We haven’t told the players yet, so we’ll wait until we do that with them this afternoon.”

Shanahan’s decision was likely impacted by Tuesday’s joint practice between the teams, but the 49ers have several players that would likely be sitting due to injury even if they went with a different plan. Wide receiver Mike Evans suited up for practice on Tuesday for the first time in over a week while running back Christian McCaffrey and defensive end Nick Bosa headlined the list of players who remained out.