The San Francisco 49ers suffered three noteworthy injuries on Sunday in their victory over the San Diego Chargers. Rookie offensive lineman Marcus Martin suffered a knee injury. Fullback Will Tukuafu suffered a concussion. Special teamer and occasional preseason safety Bubba Ventrone suffered a hamstring injury. All three left the game at different points, and were ruled "OUT" before the game ended.
The Martin injury is the biggest given his potential as a center or guard of the future. Martin was in at center in the fourth quarter and was rolled up from behind. He was in a lot of pain and my hope is that the pain was more like Joe Staley's pain last year. Staley got hurt and was screaming in pain, but in reality it ended up being more that he was scared about what it might have been.
Will Tukuafu left the game in the second half with a head injury that was later ruled a concussion. He is in a fight for a roster spot as a backup fullback and special teams option. The 49ers have used a lot of heavy formations under Jim Harbaugh, so that works to Tukuafu's advantage. However, last season we saw the 49ers release him and wait until Bruce Miller fractured his scapula before bringing him back. My guess is we see something similar where he is released and only brought back if injury necessitates it.
Raymond Ventrone suffered a hamstring injury, which is actually something he went through last year. There would naturally be some thought that an injury would cost him a roster spot, but as Kevin Lynch pointed out, Ventrone dealt with a significant hamstring injury last preseason and still made the roster. Of course, this time around the injury happened the week before roster cuts. If it's not serious, it might not impact his roster chances. But if it is serious, we could see an injury settlement.
I'll update this with Harbaugh's comments after the game, as I'm sure he'll get a question on each of these guys.