The San Francisco 49ers opened up the second half of the season with a 34-3 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars, and by doing so, snapped a three-game losing and maintained their lead in the NFC West race. The 49ers secured their sixth win of the season by playing the same kind of complementary football they had on display in their first five games of the season. Headed into Week 11, there are just a few outstanding injuries to the team and three players with open practice windows that could be activated off the Injured Reserve and PUP lists.
Here are the three biggest takeaways from head coach Kyle Shanahan:
The 49ers offensive line continues to be hit by the injury bug.
With offensive lineman Aaron Banks (toe) and left tackle Trent Williams (ankle) injuries over the course of the last few weeks, the 49ers O-line has had to do some shuffling, and that may be the case again in Week 12. Williams was cleared to play in Week 10 and made it out of the game without reaggravating his sprained ankle. However, fellow tackle Colton McKivitz did not have same luck. Shanahan noted that McKivitz got his ankle rolled up on and is day-to-day as he also deals with some knee soreness. The team will look to either tackle Matt Pryor or Jaylon Moore as options should McKivitz not be ready to go against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Moore favors the left side and filled in at left tackle in for Williams in Weeks 7 and 8.
"We discuss (Moore or Pryor)," Shanahan said when asked about Moore's flexibility. "Once the season starts, Chris Foerster reps those guys at all the spots, not as much as their off spots, but he covers those for all those situations because you never know where a year can go.
"It's always a possibility to swing all those guys. There are spots we would prefer them at, but we always have contingency plans that he is constantly trying when he can to get them rested during the week."
The only other outstanding injured players are Banks, who is working through turf toe, and Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles who is day-to-day with an ankle injury.
Prior to the recent injuries on the offensive line, Jon Feliciano had earned increased playing time.
Per Shanahan, the plan was to have Feliciano's game workload increase. Feliciano is a veteran offensive lineman who was signed in the offseason to replace Daniel Brunskill, the team's former swing O-lineman. In 2022, he started 15 games with the New York Giants, and since arriving in The Bay, has played 98 snaps for the 49ers and made a case for more playing time. However, given the injuries to the offensive line as of late, he'll continue filling in at left guard for Banks.
"It had been discussed, nothing against Spencer Burford, but I wanted to make sure that Jon knew that we were aware of how well we thought he had been doing," Shanahan said. "It was something I had mentioned to him, and I was planning on doing. I hadn't thought out how we would do it yet, just thought that he had earned to be out there a little bit.
"Unfortunately Aaron got hurt, and we never looked into it anymore after that because he knew he was going to be up this week, and this week going forward."
Shanahan gave a more detailed outlook on defensive lineman Drake Jackson, who was placed on the Injured Reserve list last week.
The 49ers placed Jackson on IR on Saturday prior to the team's Week 10 matchup after the second-year pro developed knee tendonitis. Jackson first landed on the 49ers injury report on Wednesday of last week, and now will have to miss a minimum of four weeks before having his practice window opened up.
"He has to rest for a least a month here, and he'll have a chance if it recovers the right way and stuff to hopefully come back this year," Shanahan said.
