Fooch’s update: The 49ers have informed the beat writers that McKinnon suffered a calf strain. He’ll remain out the rest of this week, including the Texans preseason game, and will be re-evaluated next week.
We can all breathe easier. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports that the results of San Francisco 49ers running back Jerick McKinnon’s MRI revealed a simple muscle strain. It’s not an ACL tear or anything season-ending.
Whew!
I imagine McKinnon will be limited in practice this week after this scare, but this is great news. McKinnon was seen hobbling on his leg, favoring his right knee at Sunday’s practice, but said he was ok. Shortly after his declaration, the 49ers announced he was getting an MRI on the injury anyways.
It’s clear the 49ers were simply doing their due diligence on the matter and wanted to make sure the strain wasn’t something worse. I bet Kyle Shanahan will get a question or two about this (as will McKinnon) as the week wears on. His status for Saturday’s preseason game against the Houston Texans is probably up in the air at this point, but given Matt Breida has gone down with a shoulder injury for a few weeks, the 49ers were running out of running backs.
A muscle strain might make him limited, but this could have been worse. Much, much worse.