In case you missed it last night or this morning in the Nuggets, 49ers running back LaMichael James returned to practice yesterday. The 49ers rookie was in full pads and took part in stretching and individual drills. The rest of practice is closed to the media, so I don't think we know for certain if he took part in that portion. Even still, considering the pain he appeared to be in when he went down, this is great news.
The one thing to take from this and the Brandon Jacobs injury is that when you see a guy writhing in pain on the field, while the first instinct is to cringe, it's not always the end of the world. James could very well be back this weekend, and Jacobs seems to have a decent chance of being back the first couple weeks of the regular season. It is not ideal, but it is better than the alternative.
When the injuries first happened, my initial thought was that the 49ers would bring in a running back off the street. That does seem likely to happen at this point, so whether or not LaMichael James plays, I think it's safe to say that we're gonna see a whole lot of Anthony Dixon. He, Kendall Hunter and Rock Cartwright will likely split the lion's share of the carries against the Broncos.