The San Francisco 49ers may have dodged a small problem on Saturday. It appears Darnell Dockett suffered a rib injury, but Matt Barrows is reporting a source said the injury is not believed to be severe. Earlier on Monday, Dockett posted a picture to snapchat in which he was receiving treatment on his ribs. He included a caption mentioning a cracked rib:
@NinersNation Did you see this Darnell Dockett said he cracked his ribs on snapchat pic.twitter.com/7mj2uREWQ3
— Troy Martinez (@TroyMartinez23) August 31, 2015
A cracked rib can take as much as six weeks to heal, but it would appear that might not be the issue here. Or, it is an issue, but he's a tough guy who can get through it. It's probably a little easier to say an injury is not severe when it's not your own body!
It is probably a safe bet that Dockett does not play in the 49ers preseason finale on Thursday. The 49ers starters will likely see little to no playing time in that game. Jim Tomsula was asked about it in his Sunday conference call. He did not want to get cornered on the issue, but he said if starters did play, it would not be a lot.
Yea, I mean we're in the middle of that now. There's obviously the thought of, look, you sit those guys. And you've seen, we've looked at what people are doing across the league the past couple of years. Here, I've always, it's been a few guys here and there out, but you put, there are some starters that are out there and play, and it's worked. But I am looking, we have looked at what other people are doing. We're trying to make a smart decision here. So, whether you get more out of your Wednesday practice with those guys, vs. playing them a series, or five or six plays on Thursday night. Again, all that stuff is happening today, but we will finalize it today. It's been going on. So, I don't want to tell you an answer and it's changed on you. If they do play, it won't be a lot.