Arik Armstead needs surgery on broken hand, 49ers considering injured reserve

San Francisco 49ers defensive lineman Arik Armstead suffered a broken hand in the second quarter of Sunday’s game against Washington, head coach Kyle Shanahan confirmed on Monday. Shanahan also said that the team would “have to discuss” whether or not they needed to place Armstead on injured reserve.

Right now, it’s unclear exactly how long Armstead is expected to miss, but the injury will require surgery, so that has to be factored in.

Armstead was a first-round pick by the 49ers in 2015, and missed eight games due to injury in 2016 as well. He had 1.5 sacks and 13 tackles this season, and has been a pretty consistent performer on a 49ers defense that has been fairly good at applying pressure, but not so good at actually getting sacks.

There was some hope that Armstead’s injury wasn’t serious, but this move is definitely disappointing. He had his hand wrapped during the game but appeared to have it unwrapped afterward.

In addition to Armstead, Shanahan also confirmed that Aaron Lynch, another defensive lineman, has a calf strain and will miss at least a week, potentially more. Lynch was the one who replaced Armstead in Sunday’s game against Washington.