San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch appeared on KNBR for his weekly interview, where he discussed Brock Purdy, Kyle Shanahan’s Coach of the Year candidacy, and more. We’ll focus on the injury front.
There were no changes to Thursday’s injury report. Yetur Gross-Matos went from not participating to being limited, a pattern that has held every week he’s been practicing. The same is true for Christian McCaffrey and Trent Williams. George Kittle did not practice for the second day in a row.
One question for Lynch was: How do you determine the risk of playing Kittle on an injured ankle, given that the 49ers are in the playoffs? This question was asked after Lynch said the Niners were fighting for playoff seeding and trying to get as high as they could in the standings to make the path as easy as possible. One would think that does not happen without Kittle on the field.
Here’s what Lynch said:
That’s always a part of the equation with all of our players, particularly with a player like George, who is so valuable to us. Of course, you want George out there. Of course, this is a huge game against the Bears. He had it stacked up against him in that it was a Monday night game on the eastern side of our country.
So you’re flying back, and you’re not getting back until 3:30. The clock is just shorter. The amount of time you have to get back on the field. I think the things we have going for us, it wasn’t the dreaded high-ankle sprain. It was the low ankle sprain. George is recovering really well. Is he going to get there? We don’t know. George is the type of player where you probably give him that latitude, where hey, we’ll give you all the way up to the game.
The other thing we feel really good about is that we’re well-equipped in the event that we don’t have George. We’re different with George out there, but Luke Farrell is a really good football player. We’ve seen what Jake Tonges can do when George is out. So, Brayden Willis would then be up.
We’ll see where this thing goes. George is doing everything he can, just like Fred [Warner]. That will be one that goes right down to Sunday evening.
That does not sound like somebody who is expecting Kittle to suit up. We’ve seen the 49ers’ running game fall off dramatically without Kittle on the field. His skills in the passing game have been on full display during the past month. Not having Kittle’s ability after the catch or in contested situations will be missed.
Lynch was asked if linebacker Fred Warner would be on the active roster if the 49ers made it as far as the NFC Championship:
Fred’s been working incredibly hard. He’s been attacking it in every which way. He’s been making really good progress. I’ve said this consistently. It would be well ahead of the original timeline that we were given. But Fred has kind of even, has the ability to move the doctors.
Because they are going to put objective measurements out there, ‘Hey, if you can reach these, you can get there,’ and Fred has continually done that. I think it’s made a lot of people reexamine, ‘Hey, would this be possible?’ I think that’s a great thing. So, I’m watching him. I’ve consistently said it, I won’t put anything past him. I think it’s a thing that remains to be seen. I know he’s putting his heart and soul, and his incredible work ethic every day in effort to do that.
The easiest way for the 49ers to make the NFC Championship game would be to secure the No. 1 seed.
