San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan delivered a mixed bag of injury updates on Friday to close out the practice week ahead of their preseason matchup with the New Orleans Saints. Shanahan noted earlier in the week that safety Talanoa Hufanga, who is currently working back from an ACL injury he suffered in Week 11 of the 2023 season, would have an important checkup on Thursday that would inform the team of his timeline for return.
"It was good. I think he got back late last night," Shanahan said. "He cleared him for next steps which means we can push him a little bit harder, not against players but more football stuff, those dynamic cuts and everything. Hopefully, he has a really good week of it, and we can talk about easing him into practice."
With Hufanga out of the starting safety rotation, second-year Ji'Ayir Brown and special teams ace George Odum have been the go-to guys for the 49ers throughout training camp.
Meanwhile, the head coach shared that offensive lineman Aaron Banks broke his pinky and underwent surgery on Friday morning. The hope is to have their starting left guard ready to go for the season opener.
In this upcoming game, expect to see most the starters suited and out on the field, at least for a portion of the game.
"I want to play a number of them," Shanahan said. "I won't say all of them, but I'd like to get a lot of them out there at least for a little bit. I wanted these practices to go through before we could evaluate that. We haven't told each player specifically, but the plan is that you guys will see some ones."
