The San Francisco 49ers opened up the practice window for star linebacker Fred Warner to return from injury this week, giving him the opportunity to go through walkthroughs and get on the field as he tries
to come back from a dislocated and fractured ankle.
Now, head coach Kyle Shanahan said Warner is not expected back this week and that the hope is he can return should the 49ers advance to the NFC Championship Game, which felt like the initial earliest timeline for the star anyway.
It will be a decision purely up to the doctors, although Warner mentally feels like he’s already ready to go and is eager to get out on the field again.
“I’m ready whenever they’re ready,” Warner said on The Ryen Russillo Show. “There’s some T’s that gotta be crossed, I’s that gotta be dotted. Unfortunately, if it were just up to me, I’d be out there this weekend, but it’s unfortunately not that way. I’ve got to make sure I’m checking all the boxes, and everybody has to give me the okay before they let me go out there. But I’m pushing, man. I’m training hard. I’m back doing full football drills and everything, so time will tell.”
Still, that doesn’t mean his impact hasn’t started to be felt both in the locker room and on the field. Speaking to the media on Wednesday, defensive coordinator Robert Saleh shared that Warner has already started to give ‘pure energy’ on the field, even in walkthroughs.
“Just pure energy,” Saleh said about Warner’s return. “Fred’s the ultimate energy-giver, and so, just having him out there is awesome. Yesterday was a little bit more tempo down, but today, obviously, with a higher tempo, it’ll be fun to get him out there, seeing him running around.”
But he’s not the only one noticing. Warner’s teammates are also feeling the difference in the atmosphere with his return. Wide receiver Demarcus Robinson was among that group, feeling an increase in energy with him out on the field.
“I feel like you could say we can definitely feel his presence a bit more,” Robinson said on Tuesday, via NBC Sports Bay Area. “He’s out there on the field with us. We always had his energy, being in the stadium, getting the crowd pumped before the game. But definitely, for us now, as teammates, having him out there, being on the field at practice, seeing him running around. It feels good seeing him back out there.”
Defensive tackle Kalia Davis was even taken aback a bit, sensing something different when seeing Warner back out there for the first time.
“I honestly didn’t see him until later on, but I felt something,” Davis said, via NBC Sports Bay Area. “I felt some aura. And then I peeked back, I said, ‘Hold on, whoa. He’s got a jersey on?’ It’s most definitely uplifting, for sure.”
While he won’t be out there on the field this week, there’s a different sense of energy in the building with Warner back. And that’ll only increase when the 49ers up the tempo on Wednesday.
