Christian McCaffrey and Deebo Samuel’s injuries progress and reason for optimism
X-Rays were negative for Deebo Samuel, while Christian McCaffrey’s injury shouldn’t keep him out for long, if at all.
We’ve referenced Dr. Deepak Chona, a sports trained surgeon graduate from Stanford and Harvard. Dr. Chona provided injury updates Sunday afternoon regarding 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel and Christian McCaffrey:
On his weekly podcast appearance Monday morning, Dr. Chona went into greater depth about each injury:
“We have two pieces of promising news. One is that the average oblique strain is about a 1-week injury. And most players return with a low-performance impact. We don’t know yet the severity of Christian McCaffrey, but we do know that he tried to go back in after sustaining the injury.
Of course, he wasn’t really able to play at that point. But just the fact that he wasn’t immediately ruled out does suggest that it’s not on the highly severe end of the spectrum.
So he’ll probably have an MRI today, then we’ll know a little more. But, again, rare to have a big absence from this.”
McCaffrey is a difference-maker. The 49ers could have used his ability to make defenders miss 1-on-1 against the Browns. CMC has an innate ability to manipulate linebackers on running plays, as evidenced on the first drive of the game.
Jordan Mason is more than capable as a runner, but it’s the threat of McCaffrey as a pass-catcher that the 49ers offense would miss the most.
Here’s Dr. Chona on Samuel:
“There’s also some reason for optimism. So, he had negative X-Rays, and then the Niners comments suggested that he will likely be fine in the relative near-term. The most common situation here would be a mild AC joint sprain. We’ve seen a number of these this season.
The average is about two weeks, and most players would return with a mild-performance hit. However, Deebo Samuel has a history of playing through some minor injuries. So it wouldn’t be all that surprising if he’s out there this coming week.
If he is, I would expect a mild dip to his performance..
You can’t replicate the style that Deebo brings. He had two carries for 11 yards, and didn’t catch a pass, but Deebo made somebody miss and his presence alone makes the 49ers dangerous.
Kyle Shanahan will provide further injury updates around 1:30 p.m. PT to the media.
