The San Francisco 49ers walked off the Levi’s Stadium turf Sunday with a convincing 38-17 victory over the Las Vegas Raiders and a 7-1 record that keeps them near the top of the NFL, but the celebration felt hollow by the time Kyle Shanahan stepped to the podium.

Rookie defensive tackle Gracen Halton, one of the most pleasant surprises of the 49ers’ first half, went down in the fourth quarter with a left-leg injury.

Shanahan later confirmed that the ankle is broken and that Halton’s season is over.

 With just under four minutes left and the game well in hand, Halton was loaded onto a cart with an air cast on his leg, and his teammates gathered around him as he was driven off the field. It was a sobering moment in a game that had otherwise gone almost entirely San Francisco’s way.

San Francisco made the defensive front a priority in this spring’s draft after the unit struggled through 2025, taking Texas Tech edge rusher Romello Height in the third round and circling back for Halton out of Oklahoma in the fourth.

Few outside the building expected the fourth-rounder to become a regular starter so quickly.

Then Alfred Collins, who looked headed for a breakout season, tore his patellar tendon in practice before the opener in Melbourne, and Halton stepped into the lineup and never looked overwhelmed.

He played with a quick first step and a knack for finding the football, and the production followed. Halton leads the team with five tackles for loss, ranks second with two sacks, and produced his signature moment of the year in Seattle.

With the Seahawks trying to run out the clock before halftime from their own 4-yard line, he shot into the backfield, knocked the ball loose from George Holani, and fell on it in the end zone for his first NFL touchdown.

He nearly added an interception against the Raiders before the injury, more evidence that he was a player still on the rise.

The timing is a little easier to absorb than it would have been a month ago. DeForest Buckner, back with the franchise that drafted him, has already taken over a starting job, and he and Osa Odighizuwa are expected to anchor the interior going forward.

What San Francisco loses is depth and an energetic rotational piece, so more snaps should now go to Sebastian Valdez and James Thompson Jr., at least until reinforcements come off injured reserve.

Starting cornerbacks Deommodore Lenoir and Renardo Green both left Sunday’s game with foot and back injuries, and Shanahan said the team would know more once they’re evaluated Monday.

For a contender that has leaned on its depth all season, losing Halton is a real setback. His rookie year, though, showed the 49ers they found a long-term piece on the interior, and he’ll spend the offseason working back toward what should be a much-anticipated second season.