The 49ers' season is effectively over. Their chances to make the playoffs sit below one percent as things stand. Fred Warner joked about their margin-of-error-level chance Wednesday before explicitly acknowledging reality.
That reality begs questions about whether it's worth playing key players down the stretch of the season. Trent Williams' name is the most prominent one. He hasn't played since November 17 against the Seattle Seahawks, when he gutted through a sprained ankle suffered against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Kyle Shanahan all but confirmed Wednesday that Williams won't return this season.
"If he could get back to healthy, we'd play him," Kyle Shanahan said. "But it's not like that right now. It's getting closer to being that way."
Williams won't practice Wednesday, and he's not alone. Rookie running back Isaac Guerendo is out of practice with a hamstring injury. He missed almost all of training camp with a substantial hamstring injury, something that was a concern for him coming out of college. Below is the rest of the 49ers' practice report, per Shanahan:
- DL Nick Bosa, hip/oblique
- OL Jaylon Moore, hip
- S Malik Mustapha
- LB Dre Greenlaw, Achilles/knee
- OL Nick Zakelj, illness
The main status for the week to monitor is Guerendo's. If the 49ers are without him, Patrick Taylor Jr. becomes the top back. San Francisco also has Israel Abanikanda on the active roster and veteran Ke'Shaun Vaughn on the practice squad.