The San Francisco 49ers announced Monday that they’ve placed LB Malcolm Smith on injured reserve and signed rookie LB Austin Calitro to a contract.
Smith recently suffered a torn pectoral muscle and will miss the entire 2017 season, so this move was expected.
Smith, 28, is a former seventh-round pick of the Seahawks back in 2011. He played out his rookie contract with the Seahawks and was named Super Bowl MVP a few years ago before signing a two-year deal with the Raiders in 2015.
The 49ers signed Smith to a five-year, $26.5 million contract that included $13 million guaranteed this past March. He stands to make base salaries of $2 million and $3 million over the first two years of the contract.
In 2016, Smith appeared in 15 games for the Raiders and recorded 103 tackles, one interception, two forced fumbles, a fumble recovery and three pass defenses. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 67 linebacker out of 87 qualifying players.
Calitro, 23, wound up signing on with the Jets as an undrafted free agent out of Villanova shortly after this year’s draft. Unfortunately, he lasted just a few weeks in New York before he was placed on waivers.
Calitro worked out for the Chiefs and Falcons a few months ago but wasn’t signed to a contract by either team.
During his college career at Villanova, Calitro recorded 219 tackles, 8.5 sacks, 26 tackles for a loss, three forced fumbles, two interceptions and eight pass defenses over the course of 47 games.
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