49ers' Sherman to play this week; DT Thornton retires

San Francisco 49ers cornerback Richard Sherman said Wednesday he will play in the team's third preseason game Saturday against the Indianapolis Colts, his first game action since tearing his Achilles last November.

Asked if he was more curious to see how his Achilles or his hamstring -- which he strained in training camp -- responds to gameplay, Sherman indicated he has moved well past both issues.

"Oh, neither, neither," he said. "Those things are feeling great. ... I could have played last week."

He added with a smile, "That's what I was trying to do, but [head coach] Kyle -- they held us back.

"So I'm not really concerned about how that's going to respond. I'm more concerned about my game shape and making sure I can still go every single play because I haven't played in eight months."

Sherman, 30, also said he values the chance to get game reps with his new teammates, whom he is still getting to know after spending his first seven NFL seasons with the Seattle Seahawks.

"It's important just for a defensive continuity standpoint," he said. "It's just everybody knowing where people are going to be on game day. You don't want the first time you deal with communicating with someone else to be with live bullets out there."

Elsewhere, the team announced the retirement of defensive tackle Cedric Thornton and the signing of defensive tackle Chris Jones to take the vacant roster spot.

Thornton, 30, joined the team on a one-year, $915,000 deal this offseason after spending 2017 with the Buffalo Bills, where he tallied 27 tackles and 2.0 sacks in 15 games (three starts).

Thornton had signed a four-year, $18 million deal with the Dallas Cowboys in 2016 but lasted just one season as a reserve before getting released. He spent the first four seasons of his career with the Philadelphia Eagles. Undrafted out of Southern Arkansas in 2011, Thornton has 220 tackles and 7.5 sacks in six NFL campaigns.

Jones joined the 49ers off waivers from the Miami Dolphins in November of 2016 and played six games (all starts) that year, tallying 17 tackles. He signed with the Kansas City Chiefs last summer but did not make the team and did not appear in a regular-season game in 2017. He spent 10 days with the New York Jets this June before being released.

A sixth-round pick of the Houston Texans in 2013, Jones spent his first two seasons playing a key role for the New England Patriots, tallying 9.0 sacks in 28 games (22 starts) from 2013-14.

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