San Francisco 49ers backup quarterback Mac Jones sustained a knee sprain that will prevent him from playing in the preseason finale. That explains why the Niners signed Nate Sudfeld. Shanahan hasn’t decided how the quarterback rotation would go this weekend:
“We know we’re going to want at least two other guys to play besides Brock [Purdy], if he does play.”
Shanahan will decide whether Purdy plays in the preseason finale after the team’s next two practices. As for Jones, his injury isn’t considered
severe, and Shanahan expects Jones to be back by Week 1.
Running back Patrick Taylor Jr. is headed to the Injured Reserve list after dislocating his shoulder. Shanahan initially hoped that Taylor would only miss a couple of weeks. On Tuesday, Shanahan said Taylor’s injury will cause him to miss the whole season.
Shanahan said running back Corey Kiner’s high-ankle sprain is a “pretty bad one” that he believes will keep Kiner sidelined a month, and perhaps a little longer.
Shanahan said the 49ers haven’t been able to have the training camp they would have wanted to because of the injuries. In his mind, he doesn’t believe the excess of injuries is due to how hard the team has worked in practice since their numbers were so low to begin with.
The team did receive positive news elsewhere. According to the media on hand, Guerendo, Renardo Green, Sam Okuayinonu, Jordan Elliott, and Jason Pinnock all practiced. Nick Bosa was back, too.
Here’s Shanahan on getting Guerendo and Green back at practice:
Both of those guys, it was real good to get back. And they stayed back. I’m always nervous with those guys the first time. That’s why they put them through the protocol before they get back. Guerendo was about letting his shoulder heal, but he was able to keep his conditioning great, because it was just a shoulder injury.
Renardo’s being a hamstring took a lot longer, to where a normal protocol, he might have been back last week. We were a lot safer with them, making sure they could go this week.
There’s a challenge for players coming back from injury, and whether they’ll have enough time to practice. Yetur Gross-Matos is an example, as the 49ers must decide whether he’ll start on the PUP list or not:
Possibly. That hasn’t been coming as fast as they want. We still got two weeks here that we’re hoping for. That’ll be one of our big decisions with everything that I talked about earlier from the 53, to the 46, how long we have to wait till he comes back.
We’re going to take as much as we can, but time’s coming up to where we have to make a decision.
Gross-Matos’s injury opens the door for one of the UFL pass rushers to earn an opportunity to make the roster.
