49ers injury and fitness updates: Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel, Trent Williams and others
San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan spoke to reporters during a conference call Monday about the injuries that plagued Sunday’s loss to the Cleveland Browns.
Running back Christian McCaffrey suffered an oblique/rib injury in the third quarter. Although he briefly returned to action, he was again sidelined after just one match.
When the coach spoke to reporters, Shanahan had no update on McCaffrey undergoing an MRI. The 49ers are waiting for results. The coach was asked if McCaffrey could play with extra coverage under his jersey, as the 49ers did last season with quarterback Brock Purdy’s rib injury.
“It’s obviously a more difficult position just because you get a lot more snaps, but we’ll just have to see how it responds,” Shanahan said. “We’ll have to see what’s in it, too, because we haven’t gotten it back yet. So we’re saying oblique/rib. Hopefully it’s not both, but we’ll have to wait to find out.”
The good news is that the rest of the injured players are day-to-day, so it doesn’t matter. Deebo Samuel suffered a shoulder injury late in the first quarter. Although X-rays showed no immediate concerns, the receiver underwent an MRI to assess the extent of the injury. The coach did not provide further details on the injury, but noted that the receiver is day-to-day.
“We’ll have to see how it bounces back this week, and it’s just how his body handles it,” Shanahan said. “You never know how they’re going to react. So we’ll wait and see.”
Late in the first quarter, tackle Trent Williams suffered an ankle injury. Despite the discomfort, he managed to return to the game and play through the pain.
“It didn’t feel good at all,” Williams said after the 19-17 loss. “It’s football and I was just trying to get through for my teammates.”
Shanahan added that Williams’ injury is not a high ankle sprain. The coach was asked about the difficult decision to let the player play through the injury. “That’s always the hardest thing because you never want to do something that puts somebody in terrible danger to make it worse,” Shanahan said. “And that’s why you have to go with the player. Hopefully you have some idea. Well, first you have to ask the coaches. But then you go to the player and you have to have a history with the player. You have to know what he’s like and things like that.
“And I really think that if Trent couldn’t go, Trent wouldn’t go. He’ll do anything to be there, but Trent is a very smart guy who’s also very competitive and understands what those decisions are. And he said that he can come back. I didn’t wait for him because the wound was bad. “The coaches thought it wasn’t as serious as it looked. Trent wanted to go out and then we’ll watch him the whole game, which [offensive line/play coordinator] Chris Foerster does really well. James Cregg] and his assistant Joe [Graves] .
“We thought Trent battled the whole game, showed no signs of faltering and it was a pretty gutsy effort under the circumstances, especially for the player he was up against (Myles Garrett).”
Safety George Odum is dealing with four concussions.
Dre Greenlaw did not play against the Browns with a hamstring injury. Shanahan noted that the 49ers’ star quarterback expects to return to practice this week starting Thursday, as San Francisco’s next game is Monday night.
