The San Francisco 49ers returned to the Bay Area on Friday evening, and will return to the practice field on Monday. Sunday is a day off for the players, but the coaching and training staff will have plenty of work to do. Most notably is a check-up on safety Jimmie Ward’s hamstring injury.
Ward injured his hamstring during his conditioning test at the start of training camp. He was placed on the PUP list while he rehabs the injury. On Saturday, 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan told the media that the team will run him through a battery of tests on Sunday. Here’s what he said about eyeing this week as a return week for Ward.
“That is, that’s what we were eying. That’s what we were hoping for. We did not check him out today. We’re going to take him through a bunch of tests tomorrow and run him a little bit to see how his hamstring holds up and if he passes or passes with [vice president of medical services/head athletic trainer Jeff Ferguson] Ferg and everybody tomorrow when we recheck his hamstring, then we’ll feel good about him going versus Denver this week. But, if we don’t fell 100-percent great about it, we’re not going to risk Jimmie getting out there and reinjuring it, setting him back. If we don’t get a 110-percent positive report tomorrow then we’ll just push it another few days.”
Lorenzo Jerome has been handling first team snaps since Jaquiski Tartt suffered his own injury. Tartt was in uniform on Friday, but did not play. There is no word on his status for this week, but until he and Ward are back on the field, Jerome will continue to get first team free safety work.