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Life without Richard Sherman and Dee Ford will continue for the 49ers for the foreseeable future. Head coach Kyle Shanahan on Wednesday said both players will likely be out until after the Bye week, which comes in Week 11.
Sherman has been out since Week 1 dealing with a calf injury. Initial indications were that he wouldn’t miss more than a few weeks, but he’ll be sidelined for several more weeks after his most recent round of treatment.
“Yeah, he got those, I think it was last week. Now he’s in a boot just taking care of it, making sure it heals and let those take course,” Shanahan told reporters via video conference. “I thought it would be, I’d have more answers this week, but I still think it’s going to be a few weeks on that. It’s obviously going a little longer than we expected. Got to play it smart with him, but I don’t see it being week-to-week right now. I see it being probably until around our Bye week.”
The 49ers and Sherman are in a precarious spot with this injury. Matt Barrows of the Athletic wrote on Twitter that it’s a lower calf injury. Sherman has had two Achilles surgeries so pushing him back from a lower calf ailment probably isn’t something the team is interested in doing.
Ford is on the same timetable for now while he deals with a back injury. Shanahan’s inclusion of Ford on the same track as Sherman is the first time he’s given any real outlook on the defensive end’s return, although there’s still nothing definitive.
“I’m not sure on that. I would still throw it similar into that category after our Bye week,” Shanahan said. “He’s gotten the work he’s needed, he’s gotten the shots he’s needed, he’s rested it and now he’s just starting to get back into some things, but still a ways away on that.”
With a conservative training staff like the 49ers have, it’s not surprising they’re also taking it easy with Ford.
Ultimately San Francisco just has to make it through the Bye week in the playoff hunt. If they can do that and get Ford and Sherman back for the final few games, they’ll be in a really good spot to make a. postseason run.