San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan met with the media after Friday’s practice to discuss a few injury updates ahead of the Niners matchup. The good news is Jimmy Garoppolo is off the injury report. Kyle said that he’s not worried about Jimmy’s ankle, and neither is Garoppolo.
Kwon Alexander will miss Sunday’s game with a high-ankle sprain. Shanahan said the 49ers don’t think Alexander’s injury will require him to go on the short-term injured reserve. That’s good news, and hopefully, Alexander is only out for one game. The 49ers worked out linebacker Jonas Griffith, who was on the roster during training camp, Vosean Joseph, a speedy linebacker who was drafted in the fifth-round of 2019, and Corey Nelson, who was a seventh-round selection in the ‘14 NFL Draft.
Emmanuel Moseley is listed as questionable. He needs to pass one more step in the concussion protocol, which Shanahan said should happen on Sunday. If that happens, Moseley will start as the boundary cornerback. If not, Ahkello Witherspoon will start in his place. Shanahan said they are leaving Jason Verrett as the “field” cornerback.
Dontae Johnson will be out Sunday with a groin injury. Jeff Wilson Jr. will be questionable with a calf injury, as will Marcell Harris, who is battling an ankle injury.
The bomb that Shanahan dropped was when he was asked about the three players on the PUP list: Weston Richburg, Jullian Taylor, and Ronald Blair. Shanahan said that he isn’t expecting either of them to return until Week’s 10-12. It had originally been thought that the 49ers would open the practice window for the trio next week. There was some confusion, but Kyle clarified that neither of them would be healthy enough to play. Shanahan said that Blair had a setback and the medical staff had to redo a few things to his knee that were “messed up.” There was no word about whether the other two had a setback, but it’s safe to assume Richburg did. So, it’s going to be a “couple of weeks longer” until the Niners get more help.
Shanahan said Richard Sherman needs more resting to see if the injections for his calf injury had helped or not. The team will see how he is next week or the week after. I’m not saying, I’m just saying, we know what that means, and I’ll leave it at that.
Shanahan wouldn’t announce who would backup Garoppolo this week.
Here’s the injury report for Sunday:
OUT
LB Kwon Alexander (ankle)
CB Dontae Johnson (groin)
QUESTIONABLE
S Marcell Harris (ankle)
RB Jeffrey Wilson (calf)
CB Emmanuel Moseley