There has been a lot of chatter about the status of Reuben Foster’s torn rotator cuff, but the San Francisco 49ers are making it clear they are optimistic about his status. On Tuesday, general manager John Lynch again emphasized that the medical team is comfortable with Foster’s recovery, and they expect to see him on the field when training camp starts.
Foster had surgery prior to the 2017 NFL Combine, and there has been a lot of speculation about how his recovery is going. There have been anonymous sources saying they think his surgery did not take, and he will need a second surgery. After being selected, Foster said he would be limited for the offseason workout program, but would be ready to go for training camp.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan acknowledged that we can’t predict the future, but he said he was confident in the team doctors’ assessments. Anything is possible, particularly given the physical nature of football. A bad hit could change things in a hurry, but that’s the case across football. There might be some additional concerns given Foster’s shoulder, but if they are following the rehab timeline, that’s all you can ask for at this point.
One good aspect to all this is the 49ers have been vocal with their comments about this situation. Trent Baalke did say last year that he expected Will Redmond to be ready for the season, and that obviously did not work out. But the 49ers new front office has been pretty open thus far, so it’s not like these comments about Foster’s status is out of nowhere. At the very least, they’re on record with how they see this thing going. We’ll see what the fall brings.