There was a welcome sight on the field for the 49ers when they began Thursday’s practice. Left tackle Trent Williams was in uniform and participating for the first time since sustaining an ankle injury in Week 6 against the Browns.
Williams finished out the Week 6 contest, but missed all of Weeks 7 and 8. Head coach Kyle Shanahan’s explanation of Williams’ injury on Wednesday didn’t breed a ton of confidence that the star left tackle would be ready to play Sunday in Jacksonville.
“Just when he’s got a lot of history in there with stuff,” Shanahan said. “It didn’t show up as a high (ankle sprain) or anything like that, but when you’ve had that over your career, there’s a number of things that with how it’s taking longer than expected to heal, it’s more than a low.”
That made Williams’ return for Thursday’s session all the more encouraging, and it certainly improves his chances of playing Week 10.
Here’s the full practice participation report: