Wednesday morning began with a punter signing and the official announcement of a major contract extension. There was plenty to chew on, including more clarity on the sideline scuffle between Deebo Samuel and Taybor Pepper.
But first, injuries.
Injuries: Not a ton of optimism for Mitch Wishnowsky
It sounds quite possible that the 49ers will be onto a backup punter this weekend. Mitch Wishnowsky's nagging back injury flared up again on Sunday, and the 49ers signed veteran punter Pat O'Donnell to their practice squad Wednesday morning.
Here's the practice report for Wednesday:
Didn't practice:
George Kittle (hamstring)
Mitch Wishnowsky (back)
Kevin Givens (groin)
Mooney Ward (personal)
Nick Bosa (hip)
Trent Williams (ankle/rest)
Limited:
Chris Conley (hamstring)
Jon Feliciano (knee)
Christian McCaffrey (Achilles)
Shanahan said his level of concern for Bosa and Kittle was "not too high."
"I am a little more concerned with that," Shanahan said. "Bothered him earlier in the year, pretty bad back to training camp, and it's flared up here this last week. So we'll see how this week goes. But that's why we brought in another guy. So hopefully it'll take a turn for the better here. But right now we have some concern."
Shanahan said O'Donnell "understands the timing of everything" and is "a really good holder."
Ward, who has been away since the tragic death of his one-year-old daughter, Amani, is expected back soon, but Shanahan preferred not to put a timeline on it.
Lenoir's contract extension
The story of the morning was the extension of Deommodore Lenoir on a five-year, $92 million deal, per reports. He has quickly established himself as the third-most important player on the defense behind Fred Warner and Nick Bosa.
Shanahan and John Lynch (in a statement) both raved about Lenoir.
"The fact that he can play nickel inside and play the way he does, and play and cover guys outside is the types of guys you want in the secondary and special type of corner," Shanahan said.
Lenoir described the moment he found out the deal was done, as he was told by his agent. It had been a deal long in the making, with discussions held starting in the offseason.
Lenoir, who is one of... 22 children, was overcome with emotion at being able to support his family.
"I burst out into tears," Lenoir said. "I was finally able to change my family’s life for generations."
Other notes: Bosa's mishap, sideline scuffle, McCaffrey's usage
Bosa late sack whiff
Bosa explained the fourth-down play in which he held awkwardly onto Baker Mayfield's arm. Mayfield turned it into an outrageous conversion.
"Oh man, the slow motion makes it look pretty tough," Bosa said. "It was weird because it was fourth down, so I was thinking more if I hold onto him, I don’t think he can make a play. if I try to get him down maybe go for his legs, then he could possibly get off me and throw it. So I figured he couldn't make a play.”
Shanahan on the scuffle
Shanahan once again doubled down on saying that long snapper Taybor Pepper overreacted to Deebo Samuel on the sideline Sunday, when Samuel told Jake Moody to "lock in" after his third kick.
“Yeah, you can't throw whatever type of punch that was, you can't do that," Shanahan said. "Where Taybor overreacted is, what I was saying is, Deebo wasn't saying anything bad to the kicker. And Taybor was overprotective of the kicker, which I like his intentions, but he misinterpreted it and he got too close to Deebo, which was irritating to Deebo. And there were other ways he could have got him out of his face instead of the way he did, but there was nothing between Deebo and Jake.
"And to watch him kind of graze Pepper and fall into Jake and it just looked like that he's punching Jake because he missed a field goal, that could have been avoided. I didn't mind at all what Deebo said to Jake and Jake didn't mind it either. But regardless of what happens, you don't throw a punch. And you see what happens when that happens.”
Christian McCaffrey's usage
Shanahan was asked about his halftime comments to Erin Andrews, in which he said he wanted to play McCaffrey more, but not "kill him." He offered a pretty terse response Monday when asked about offseason comments that he wanted to protect McCaffrey a bit more, and denied he rode McCaffrey hard against Tampa Bay.
"I didn't exactly know the numbers, whatever the four plays he wasn't in," Shanahan said. "When I'm sprinting off the field and I have like eight minutes to go on and pee, come up with eight plays, talk to the offense, get all the tendencies, give a huge rah rah speech to get us back out for a second half, my thoughts aren't always there. That's why I hate when they put me on TV, I'm not the most social at those times, rather go in there and work on my job. But yeah, I'm sure I did say that. I guarantee I did if Erin said it, but I didn't know the numbers at the time either. Thought we had him out for a couple of drives. We did take him out a couple times, but the numbers weren't as -- felt like 100 plays he was out, but it was only like four or five."