As the San Francisco 49ers deal with the contract disputes of Brandon Aiyuk and Trent Williams, they are also fine-tuning their 53-man roster with the hopes of remaining the top dogs in the NFC. They are planning to sign former Detroit Lions safety Tracy Walker, who was released by Detroit in February.

The 49ers are signing Walker to their practice squad with the intention of bringing him up to the main roster for Week 1, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN. The 29-year-old was originally released by San Francisco ahead of the deadline to trim rosters to 53 but will stick around with one of the NFL's biggest powerhouses.

Walker led the Lions in combined tackles in the 2021 season with 108. He appeared in 79 games across six seasons after being drafted in the third round of the 2018 NFL Draft, tallying 398 combined tackles, 23 passes defended, 4.0 sacks, three interceptions and two forced fumbles.

49ers add defensive depth with Tracy Walker

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The 49ers' defense has high-level contributors everywhere but they still need depth to manage themselves in the regular season. Walker will serve as depth behind Talanoa Hufanga, George Odum, Ji'Ayir Brown and Malik Mustapha. Hufanga has yet to practice after tearing his ACL in November, so he may not be ready for Week 1 against the New York Jets, notes Matt Barrows of The Athletic. He has been activated from the physically unable to perform (PUP) list but may still need more time to recover.

The 49ers are also signing defensive end Jonatan Garvin to their practice squad, according to Tom Pelissero of NFL Network. The 25-year-old played three seasons with the Green Bay Packers. Although the bulk of the roster is set in stone, having good injury replacements may be important.

The holdouts that the 49ers are dealing with could spill into the regular season. As they try to reconcile those issues, the rest of the team is preparing for a highly anticipated season.