The 49ers came out of Monday night's game without too much harm done, it appears. Kyle Shanahan provided injury updates on a Tuesday morning conference call, with Jauan Jennings and Aaron Banks the only injuries from the game.
Both players are day-to-day, with Banks suffering a calf contusion and Jennings -- the 49ers' leading receiver with five catches for 64 yards -- suffering an ankle injury.
But the most pressing question is about the status of Christian McCaffrey. On Friday, McCaffrey said he would play, with the overwhelming consensus that he was being truthful. After more than a month layoff, though, he was on Monday night scratched. Jordan Mason said after the game he found out he would start on Friday, which Shanahan said was not true. It was a mess that led to an uncomfortable Mason presser.
Shanahan did not clarify that timeline, but he did clarify the Achilles part of McCaffrey's injury. He only told reporters last week that it was a calf/Achilles injury and not just a calf injury as initially stated. It's Achilles tendinitis, and McCaffrey likely would've played in a playoff game in the same situation.
"Definitely I believe that if it was a playoff game he would have played, but when it's not just the calf, it's the Achilles," Shanahan said. "The Achilles is tendinitis, and that stuff comes and goes, and when it is acting up, it's something you got to be very careful about. Christian is very diligent about that stuff. If it was a playoff game, he made it very clear to me he believed he could go. But when you hear that type of stuff, and it's not a playoff game, and it's week one, and especially when you're dealing with the lower extremities like that, that was a tough decision, but hearing all the words and stuff in the long run, it made it easy."
ESPN's Adam Schefter intimated McCaffrey could miss Sunday's game in Minnesota. Something worth thinking about: the 49ers' next two games are both on turf. Would the 49ers risk McCaffrey at less than 100 percent on turf fields with an Achilles in play? Perhaps, but it wouldn't be a monumental surprise if he misses the next couple.
Elsewhere, Shanahan said that Talanoa Hufanga "has a chance" to play this week. Meanwhile, Yetur Gross-Matos (knee) and Dee Winters (ankle) both have a chance to return to practice this week, but that it depends on how they come into the facility Tuesday. All missed the opener.
With a short week coming, it will be worth keeping an eye on those names in practice this week.