The San Francisco 49ers are running into an injury management problem that could make navigating Nick Bosa's injury more difficult.
Teams are allowed by NFL rules to bring eight players back from IR in a season. Entering Week 3 the 49ers have 15 players on IR. Of those 15, nine are eligible to return. Of those nine, eight aren't dealing with season-ending injuries. Two have already been given return designations − wide receiver Christian Kirk and offensive lineman Austen Pleasants − leaving the club with six return designations to distribute among six players.
However, not all six eligible players to return are necessarily guaranteed to do so. Players like cornerback Nate Hobbs and linebacker Nick Martin are probably going to stay on IR for the
season barring a rash of injury problems at their respective positions.
Even if there are four players set to return, along with Kirk and Pleasants, it leaves San Francisco with only two IR returns for the rest of the year. That's why head coach Kyle Shanahan was mum on whether Bosa would go on the injured list after suffering a calf injury. The same goes for wide receiver Demarcus Robinson and defensive tackle James Thompson Jr.
"It's a discussion," Shanahan told reporters in a press conference after Friday's practice. "(Bosa's) right there at that point along with a couple other guys that're all in the same boat. So, because of the number we have on it we won't be able to do all of them. So we had to decide and we're just trying to guess which ones will go longer, which ones have the chances of being sooner. It's just a guess. They're all really close in the same boat, so we gotta decide that by tomorrow."
Robinson and Thompson were injured in Week 2 and are both dealing with high ankle sprains that Shanahan classified as three-to-six week injuries. Bosa's out "a few weeks" per Shanahan.
The NFL IR rules stipulate that a player must be on IR for a minimum of four weeks before returning.
It now falls on San Francisco to determine who's out for how long. If they believe Robinson or Thompson may only miss three or four weeks, they'll probably avoid putting them on IR since they can navigate having that roster spot filled by a player who can't play. The same goes for Bosa who may only miss three or four weeks according to Shanahan's estimation.
However, if the club determines Bosa or either of the other two will miss significantly more time than three or four weeks, then they'll likely place them on IR to open a roster spot for a player who can suit up for them on Sundays.
This is a tricky spot for the 49ers because they're only in the third week of the year. It stands to reason there'll be additional injuries over the next 15 weeks that land a player on IR so San Francisco can't be hasty in placing players on the injured list. They also can't be hasty in rushing players back into action.
Expect San Francisco to make heavy use of its two weekly practice squad elevations on game days to get through this period where so many players are dealing with injuries that push up against the typical timeline for an IR stint.
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This article originally appeared on Niners Wire: 49ers have too many injured players to put them all on IR
