The 49ers opted to swap Thursday's scheduled training camp practice for a team walkthrough, as San Francisco has seen a number of players sidelined over the last week due to injury. The decision to modify the session had no bearing on the recent protests across a number of professional sports leagues. The head coach did, however, address the social climate with the team and ongoing dialogue on ways to take action.
"This cause is obviously more important than football," Shanahan said.
It's a lengthy list of players making their way back from injury. But on a positive note, none appear too threatening. Here are several player updates from the head coach:
George Kittle left midway through practice on Wednesday and worked with trainers off to the side. According to Shanahan, Kittle had a tight hamstring and the team opted to remove him from practice for precautionary measures.
Kyle Juszczyk spent Wednesday's session along the sidelines working out with San Francisco's training staff. The fullback is dealing with a hamstring strain and is likely to be "week-to-week."
Safety Marcell Harris rolled his ankle on Tuesday, sidelining him for a session. He was on hand for Thursday's walkthrough and "should be good to go" for the team's full practice on Friday. (More on Friday's practice below)
Ross Dwelley missed multiple practices this week while dealing with a foot issue. Shanahan said the tight end is day-to-day and could return as early as next week.
"He had a little bit of pain. Scared us for a little bit with how bad it was hurting him," Shanahan said. "But it's improving pretty rapidly right now and we're feeling a little more optimistic about that."
It was a scary sight on Sunday as Ross Reynolds went down in the final 15 minutes of practice with what appeared to be a leg injury. The guard got rolled up on a run blocking play and was carted off the field shortly thereafter. Shanahan shared encouraging news as the offensive lineman suffered a bone bruise.
"That was scary what you guys all saw, but he's going to be able to recover from it," Shanahan said. "It was an extremely painful thing (and) very scary for him. He didn't tear anything up or break anything. It's going to be a lot better than how it looked out there at that time."
Ben Garlandhas missed multiple practices after suffering an ankle injury last Tuesday. According to the head coach, his injury appears worse than some of the others as the center is considered to be "week-to-week."
Other injury updates...
Deebo Samuel (foot) was spotted running full-speed sprints up the sidelines during Wednesday's session as the wideout inches towards his return to the field.
During individual drills on Wednesday, Richard Shermancame down with what looked like an ankle injury. Shortly thereafter, the veteran corner adjusted his cleats and returned to practice. According to Shanahan, the corner just got twisted up with a teammate and there is no injury to report.
"I'm sure he's getting some treatment for just the wear and tear, but he ended up not having an injury," Shanahan confirmed. "I know it looks scary to everyone, the way his shoe came off. That's where he's had injuries in the past. But it ended up just being a guy who stepped on his foot, which probably irritated him more than anything. By the time we got over there, we realized what happened and (he) strapped the shoe back on and finished practice."
In other news...
On Friday, the 49ers will host practice inside of Levi's® Stadium for the first time since 2017. The goal is for the team and staff to run routines and test gameday communications without having the trial of preseason contests. According to Shanahan, the objective is to create a "game atmosphere" prior to the season opener on Sept. 13.
"We're going into the stadium just because, one, it's nice to get a break from our practice field. But two, we can check out the noise, stuff like that," Shanahan said. "We'll have all the tablets and headsets out there. Our guys who are in charge of doing that stuff will make sure it's all working.
"All the guys who deal with that stuff are used to getting four trial runs at it. I can remember a number of preseason games where the pictures aren't working or a tablet goes down and we're a lot more patient during the preseason. But they have four games to get better at it and we're usually good by Week 1. So, I think that's going to help a lot of guys like that. But I don't see it much different than our practice from last week."
