The San Francisco 49ers Wednesday injury report had nine names of players either sidelined from practice or limited due to injury. Left tackle Trent Williams was No. 10 on the list but was only sitting out of practice on account of a veteran rest day. With wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk (ACL, MCL) being officially placed on the Injured Reserve list earlier in the day, and both Deebo Samuel Sr. (wrist/illness) and Jauan Jennings (hip) listed as non-participants in the team's first practice of the week, San Francisco is currently without its top three wide receivers headed into "Sunday Night Football" versus the Dallas Cowboys.
While the situation is less than ideal, Samuel Sr., who was hospitalized with pneumonia on Sunday night, is trending in the right direction health wise.
"He's out of the hospital," head coach Kyle Shanahan said. "He got in here yesterday. He's doing better than you'd expect with that stuff, and we'll see how he goes throughout the week."
The head coach went on to say that Samuel Sr. does have a chance play Sunday.
His illness affected him significantly in Week 7. Despite suiting up, the veteran wide receiver's symptoms kept him out of most of the matchup versus the Kansas City Chiefs. He played just four offensive snaps and was not targeted before being ruled out in the second half of the game.
Wide receiver Chris Conley, the remaining veteran on the team's 53-man roster, is also working through an injury of his own. He suffered an ankle sprain against Kansas City and was limited in Wednesday's practice.
The team will need to lean on younger and rookie wideouts in their final game before the Bye week to spark production on the offense. That group includes first-round pick Ricky Pearsall, fourth-rounder Jacob Cowing and sophomore receiver Ronnie Bell.
San Francisco's rookie guard Dominick Puni is the best example of a first-year player making a big impact from the start of the season. He's started all seven games of the year and got his big opportunity after Spencer Burford and Jon Feliciano went down early in training camp.
"You try to tell stories like that all the time to these guys," Shanahan said. "Don't ever think it's a redshirt year. There's no such thing in this league. And, it's not just rookies, it's the same for practice squad guys. You're only, usually it's one injury away, but sometimes it's two, but it's a matter of time. Some guys can get lucky and people stay healthy the whole time, and they can really develop the right way but usually in this league you rarely get that."
