Injuries have again become the biggest story in training camp for the San Francisco 49ers.
While their group of All-Pros has largely been healthy in camp, there are a slew of other key players and potential depth pieces who are dealing with injuries heading into the final week of the preseason. Head coach Kyle Shanahan had preliminary updates Saturday after the 49ers’ preseason win over the Raiders. Tuesday was the first time he spoke to reporters since Saturday which provided an opportunity for Shanahan to elaborate more on player availability after Tuesday’s practice.
Here’s every injury-related update from Shanahan’s presser:
QB Mac Jones
Shanahan opened his presser with an update on quarterback Mac Jones.
“Mac Jones sprained his knee in the game, he’ll miss this week.”
It doesn’t sound like the team is expecting it to be a long-term issue.
“Yeah, we think he’ll be back. We think he should be fine for Week 1. We just know he can’t go this week.”
OL Dominick Puni
Puni was hurt during Saturday’s game. He left in the first quarter and returned to the sideline without a uniform to watch the rest of the game. Shanahan on Tuesday was able to confirm the nature of the injury.
“Dominick Puni just to update it, it’s a knee sprain, he’s going to be out for a few weeks.”
Shanahan said “there’s a concern” Puni could miss the season opener Sept. 7 against the Seattle Seahawks, but he also said Puni has a chance to be ready by Week 1.
RB Patrick Taylor Jr.
The 49ers placed Taylor on IR before practice to clear a roster spot for QB Nate Sudfeld.
Shanahan said Taylor “needs surgery for his shoulder because he ended up having a fracture in there.”
He also confirmed the injury is season-ending.
DE Mykel Williams
There was an expectation Williams would return to practice Tuesday after injuring his knee in joint practice with the Broncos nearly two weeks ago. Now there’s some lack of clarity on his timeline for return, though he’s still not expected to be out long-term.
“Yeah, we were hoping this week,” Shanahan said. “It was close, but just reported still some feelings yesterday, so we’re still being safe with him. We’re still looking him day-to-day, but definitely hoping for him by next week.”
RB Corey Kiner
Kiner is a promising undrafted rookie who broke a nice run early in Saturday’s game against the Las Vegas Raiders, but he got his ankle rolled up on and had to leave the game. His return is not imminent according to the 49ers’ head coach.
“It was a high ankle sprain, and it was a pretty bad one,” Shanahan said. “When it’s not a bad one, I still consider that a month. So, I would expect maybe a little longer.”
The 49ers will have a tough decision on how to proceed with Kiner at cutdown day since he still may have another month to go until he’s able to play.
DL Kevin Givens
The 49ers are contemplating placing Givens on IR to start the year. Shanahan said the team has several decisions to make on IR slots.
RB Isaac Guerendo
Guerendo has missed most of camp with a shoulder injury. He returned Tuesday and Shanahan explained some of the reason for the second-year RB’s extended absence.
“I’m always nervous with those guys the first time, but that’s why we put them through a big protocol before they can get back,” Shanahan said. “And Guerendo was about letting his shoulder heal, but he was able to keep his conditioning great because it was just a shoulder injury.
CB Renardo Green
Green was also one of the team’s early training camp injuries. It sounds like his prolonged absence was more a pre-season precaution than an indicator of the injury’s severity.
“And Renardo’s being a hamstring took a lot longer,” Shanahan said. “But that’s where like a normal protocol he might’ve been back last week, but we were a lot safer with him making sure that he could be full-go by this week.”
OL Ben Bartch
Bartch hurt his arm in practice leading up to the second preseason game, and he wound up missing the contest because of that injury. He returned Tuesday with a brace that shouldn’t hinder him and Shanahan said the team expects him to play in Week 1.
“No, you can play with (the brace),” Shanahan said. “[OL Matt] Hennessy has something similar. [OL] Trent [Williams] played with it a couple years ago, Week 17 at Arizona. So, it’s hard for other positions, if we need him to throw that would be a problem.”
CB Upton Stout
One significant injury red flag over the last couple weeks belongs to Stout. He’s been working through a calf injury that has kept him out since the preseason opener. Shanahan said he’s making progress toward a return.
“I hope close,” Shanahan said. “He had a good workout yesterday, today was a recovery day. Anytime you’re dealing with a calf, like calves can linger and add to other things. I mean, just watch some basketball players who deal with that stuff. So, I’d like to say sooner than later. I haven’t been concerned about Week 1 or anything like that, but hopefully it’ll be sooner than later.”
Stout figures to be the team’s starting nickel CB in the season opener as long as he’s healthy.
WR Jauan Jennings
Shanahan said Jennings is the same situation is Stout while both work through calf issues. While there may not be concern about Jennings’ availability for Week 1, there is concern for his production after missing so much time.
“Yeah, any player, not just Jauan or anyone, but people need to practice,” Shanahan said. “They need to get ready to play an NFL season or you end up getting hurt. So, hopefully he can get his health back so he can get that out there and start practicing. Just running routes, doing things like that. Same thing for Upton. Not many people can get through that stuff without practicing. We had it a little with [DL Nick] Bosa one year, a little bit with Trent. Some different positions, but it’s always a huge challenge.”
DL Yetur Gross-Matos
We haven’t heard much on the Gross-Matos front after he began the year on the PUP list. Shanahan isn’t optimistic about his progress in returning from a knee injury, and said Gross-Matos starting the season on the PUP list is on the table.
“Oh, possibly, yeah,” Shanahan said. “That hasn’t been coming as fast as we want. We’ve still got two more weeks here that we’re hoping for, but that’ll be one of our big decisions with everything that I talked about earlier from the 53, to the 46, to how long we have to wait when he is going to come back. So we’re going to take as much time as we can, but that time’s coming up to where we have to make a decision.”