Not surprisingly, the San Francisco 49ers ended a week of speculation about who they would add to their depleted receiving corps with little fanfare, as practice-squad player Joe Hastings was promoted to the active roster.
The 49ers announced the move Saturday ahead of Sunday's regular-season finale against the St. Louis Rams.
Hastings, a 6-foot, 185-pound rookie out of Division II Washburn University in Topeka, Kan., will join Michael Crabtree and Brett Swain as the only healthy receivers on the team. Ted Ginn Jr. (ankle) and Kyle Williams (head) are both banged up and listed as questionable for Sunday's game.
Coach Jim Harbaugh has been coy all week about what would transpire with the receiving corps in the wake of Braylon Edwards' abrupt release earlier this week. Hastings' addition ends speculation about a possible Terrell Owens-49ers reunion, though it always seemed like a long shot.
Hastings is expected to see extensive action in St. Louis, where the 49ers (12-3) would lock up the No. 2 seed and a first-round bye in the playoffs with a win.
"He's going to get it done. No matter how he's got to get it done, he's going to get it done," Ginn told the San Francisco Chronicle on Friday. "Some guys just have a certain way they carry themselves. And Joe was never afraid of us. He came in, and he always asked questions. He always stuck around because he wanted to know what was going on."
Hastings set single-season school records in receptions (87) and receiving yards (1,546) in his senior season at Washburn.
