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The San Francisco 49ers wrapped up their seventh week of practices, and have departed for Denver for Sunday Night Football. This week marked the first time the team could bring PUP and NFI players back to practice. The team did NOT bring any players back for practice, but one player is continuing his work back.
Below, we've got some video of NaVorro Bowman running some sprints before practice. He is still not practicing on the field, and really it will be several weeks before that happens. The 49ers are short-handed at linebacker, but the team is going to take their time getting him back on the field. The defense has looked solid without him, which makes the decision a little bit easier. I don't think there was any chance the 49ers would have rushed Bowman back to play, but it's always nice when the unit is finding ways to succeed without a key cog.
I still think late November, early December makes some sense for his return to actual game action. The better this group plays, maybe the longer the 49ers wait. They have to get him back on the practice field no later than the Tuesday after Week 12 vs. Washington, otherwise they have to shut him down for the year. They then have three weeks to get him back on the active roster, which would take us into mid-December. The team has some time on this one.