The 49ers are hurting. They avoided their typical injury rash last season, but this year has been off to a rough start. Their star pairing of Trent Williams and Brandon Aiyuk being out of practice has not helped matters.
That injury rash led to the 49ers canceling joint practices with the New Orleans Saints, which were slated for Thursday and Friday before Sunday's preseason matchup. Kyle Shanahan confirmed the injury litany -- with 23 players missing Thursday's practice -- was the reason the 49ers pulled the plug.
"It was tough because we like to do it," Shanahan said. In the long run, waited so long to make the decision because of how much we enjoy doing it, but when we realized we were just doing it because we were enjoying to do it, trying to change up the monotony, that really didn't make it worth it. It really wasn't best thing for our team, and just where we're at injury wise and stuff. And love doing that stuff, and love to go out there, but the risk was too much, outweighed the reward."
Shanahan has said in the past he values those joint practices more than preseason games. Despite that, he said he has "no concern" about being prepared for the season without them, pointing to his time with Atlanta, Cleveland and Washington when there were not joint practices. He said the 49ers feel they can generate similar reps internally.
Kalia Davis a 'surprise' knee injury
Given the lack of serious practices reps, the natural response is to have the 49ers play their starters a bit more than usual against the Saints.
The way the team practices Monday seemed to hint at that. They ran with no pads and leaned heavily on the starters, Shanahan said, to give the backups a rest after the preseason game, and because the first team needed them. But it also felt like a chance to let the starters get a bit of a rhythm if they are to play in the preseason.
"Yeah, there is a chance [the starters play]," Shanahan said. "I mean, usually I decide that based off how the joint practices go, and there's been times I've told them that we're going to go and I'm going to use all the ones in these joint practices a ton, and not play them in the game, and the practices haven't gone the way I've wanted, and we've ended up playing them, and then sometimes they've gone exactly how we wanted, and we didn't feel the need to play the guys.
"I don't really see much different going against ourselves. It's nice for those guys to get a day off tomorrow so we can have three really tough practices in a row. And we've kind of build up to our mountain, which we say that with the most reps, which would be one of those. So we'll see how those three practices go, and we'll make the decision what we think helps our team and individuals for the game"
Playing the starters?
The 49ers lost Ambry Thomas to a broken forearm Saturday. Shanahan confirmed that he would undergo surgery this week.
He also shared that defensive tackle Kalia Davis, who has a long history of knee injuries, but who impressed against Tennessee, suffered a "surprise" knee injury.
Shanahan said he "messed up his knee," and that it was "some stuff behind his kneecap," and that Davis will need surgery and miss likely the first half of the season. They were surprised about the injury. He indicated that he was impressed with his training camp and preseason and intends to bring him back if all goes well.
Other injury updates and news
- Isaac Yiadom has missed at least the last week. Shanahan said that he rolled his ankle and will be out a couple more weeks. It lends an increasing chance that despite Yiadom's excellent OTAs and training camp, rookie Renardo Green could be the outside corner (in nickel packages) opposite Charvarius Ward Week 1. If Yiadom is healthy, he should have enough time to win the job back. But the door appears open
- Dominick Puni could "definitely," end up as the Week 1 starter, per Shanahan, who said, "he’s been good since his first snap." With Jon Feliciano's knee "not feeling right" (he won't practice this week) and Spencer Burford still recovering from a broken hand, it's sounding more and more possible, if not likely Puni starts
- Talanoa Hufanga will be evaluated Thursday and could return not long after that. Shanahan said things are "going very well" and that the 49ers hope for good news
- Jaylon Moore missed the first preseason game because he was sick
- George Odum was not at practice after the birth of his child