Jim Tomsula confirms Darnell Dockett's rib injury is minor

On Monday, San Francisco 49ers defensive lineman Darnell Dockett posted about having a cracked rib on Instagram, and there were reports that the injury was relatively minor. On Tuesday, head coach Jim Tomsula discussed a number of 49ers-related topics on KNBR, and confirmed that Dockett's injury is, in fact, minor.

In fact, Dockett doesn't have a cracked rib at all, but Tomsula did not he has some "cartilage thing," according to Matt Maiocco of CSN Bay Area. As far as the "cartilage thing" goes, Dockett is expected to be ready for Week 1 of the regular season without issue.

Obviously, we shouldn't expect Dockett to see any playing time in the 49ers' final preseason game against the San Diego Chargers on Thursday. He wasn't likely to see any time in that game at all, unless he felt like he needed to stay fresh and play a series. The 49ers will probably play it safe from here and shut him down until the regular season opener, however.

Dockett hasn't played much at all in a 49ers uniform. He took a handful of snaps against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 2 of the preseason, and played 12 snaps against the Denver Broncos in the most recent game. He didn't show much but really, what is a guy like that supposed to show in such little playing time? Dockett will have one of the starting roles this season and I'm personally interested to see whatever it is he's got left in the tank.