RENTON — The Seahawks elevated cornerback Shaquill Griffin and defensive tackle Quinton Bohanna on Saturday from the practice squad for Sunday’s regular-season opener against the 49ers at Lumen Field. Kickoff is 1:05 p.m.
The 49ers elevated two receivers — Russell Gage and Curtis Robinson.
The 49ers did not elevate a running back, indicating they are confident star Christian McCaffrey will be able to play after he was listed as questionable on Friday because of a calf injury.
Griffin made the Seahawks’ initial 53-man roster on Aug. 26 before being released the following day when they claimed Derion Kendrick off waivers from the Rams. He re-signed the next day to the practice squad.
Griffin being elevated might indicate he will serve as the fourth cornerback on Sunday behind Riq Woolen, Devon Witherspoon and Josh Jobe and ahead of Kendrick.
Bohanna adds depth to the interior defensive line, which remains without veteran Johnathan Hankins, who is on the Non-Football Injury list and has to sit out at least four games.
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On its public depth chart this week, the Seahawks list Byron Murphy II as the starting nose tackle and Jarran Reed as the starting defensive tackle with no one behind them, though ends Leonard Williams and Mike Morris often slide inside.
The Seahawks did not elevate a receiver, so they will go into the game with four with Dareke Young (hamstring) and Jake Bobo (concussion) ruled out on Friday. The four are Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Cooper Kupp, Tory Horton and Cody White.
There had been some thought the Seahawks might elevate recently acquired rookie Courtney Jackson, who is listed as a receiver but got significant work on punt and kickoff returns with Denver in the preseason.
Young has been working as one of the primary kickoff returners and Bobo got three punt returns in the preseason. He suffered a concussion attempting to field a punt in the preseason finale at Green Bay on Aug. 23 and remains in the concussion protocol.
Coach Mike Macdonald said earlier this week he would wait until Sunday to reveal who the team’s returners will be.
Not elevating Jackson indicates that Horton may be the primary punt returner — he returned three for touchdowns at Colorado State. Horton handled only one punt return in the preseason before suffering an ankle injury against the Chiefs. But he practiced fully all week and is good to go against the 49ers.
White handled some punt returns during his days at Michigan State and had two in the preseason for a team-high 46 yards, including a 35-yarder against Green Bay.
Third-string running back George Holani and Young were listed this week as the starting kickoff returners on the team’s public depth chart, but White and Horton could also potentially be options there.
For the 49ers, elevating Gage and Robinson adds depth to a receiving corps sorely in need of it.
San Francisco entered the weekend with four healthy receivers, a group that includes Marquez Valdes-Scantling, who was released by the Seahawks at the cutdown to 53 and signed with the 49ers.
The 49ers’ other receivers are Ricky Pearsall, Jauan Jennings and recently-acquired Skyy Moore, who returned a punt 88 yards for a TD against the Seahawks at Lumen Field while still with the Chiefs in the second preseason game Aug. 15.
Teams can elevate two players off their practice squad each week to play in the game. Players can be elevated three times and returned to the practice squad before they have to be signed to the 53-man roster to continue playing.
How much will Knight, Emmanwori play?
A couple interesting subplots for the Seahawks on Sunday are the snap counts for weakside linebacker Tyrice Knight and rookie safety Nick Emmanwori.
They could be intertwined.
Knight has a clean bill of health after not playing in the preseason because of a knee injury and an undisclosed medical issue.
Macdonald said Friday that Knight could be on a snap count.
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“Let’s just say it’s on the table,’’ Macdonald said. “It’s under consideration.”
That could mean snaps for Drake Thomas filling in at weakside linebacker.
It might also mean that Emmanwori plays a weakside linebacker role and displaces Knight when he is in the game in three-safety sets.
Emmanwori, the 35th overall pick, has worked consistently in specialty packages in training camp, usually as a third safety and five defensive backs overall. Josh Jobe typically enters when the Seahawks go with a traditional nickel defense with three cornerbacks and five defensive backs overall. Both at times are on the field when they go with six DBs.
Emmanwori said Friday he sometimes attends linebacker meetings and works out with the linebackers in individual drills.
“I’m all over the place,’’ he said of how he’s being used. “… It’s been cool. I’m excited to show what I can do Sunday.”
So are the Seahawks after the team made an aggressive move to trade up to get him, dealing picks 52 and 82 to Tennessee to get him at 35.
Emmanwori’s role on Sunday could find him matched up in pas coverage at times — if not often — with 49ers All-Pro tight end George Kittle, and possibly McCaffrey, assuming McCaffrey shakes off that calf injury.
Emmanwori said he’s excited about the challenge and beginning his NFL career but also cautioned he’s trying not to treat the moment as bigger than any other he’ll have in what he hopes is a season that includes 17 regular-season games and maybe a few more in the postseason.
“I’ve got a lot of big dreams and aspirations about what I want to do and how I want to start off my career,’’ Emmanwori said. “But at the end of the day it’s just another game. It’s a division rival, a division game. It’s a big game for us. But at the same time it’s just another game. We’ve got to go 1-0 each week and see where that takes us.’’
Bob Condotta: bcondotta@seattletimes.com. Bob Condotta is a sports reporter at The Seattle Times who primarily covers the Seahawks but also dabbles in other sports. He has worked at The Times since 2002, reporting on University of Washington Husky football and basketball for his first 10 years at the paper before switching to the Seahawks in 2013.