Tag: 49ers injuries

49ers injury update: TE Cameron Latu expected back for training camp

Cameron Latu is expected back for training camp, but the road to a roster spot is steep for the #49ers 2nd-year TE.

The 49ers tight end room is going to be crowded come training camp. Second-year TE Cameron Latu is expected to return for camp after undergoing a procedure on his knee that cost him all of last season. He’ll join recently-signed TE Logan Thomas in the competition for roster spots behind George Kittle.

Latu, who is entering his second season after the 49ers selected him No. 101 overall in last year’s draft, missed his entire rookie season because of a knee injury. San Francisco placed him on IR before final cuts which made Latu ineligible to return even if he’d been healthy enough to.

The expectation was always that he’d be back in time to compete for a roster spot in 2024. Now that he’s gotten through his rehab without any setbacks he is officially on track to return for camp according to head coach Kyle Shanahan. Latu did not participate in OTAs and is not participating in mandatory minicamp.

It’ll be a bit of an uphill climb to a roster spot for Latu. His fellow 2023 draft pick Brayden Willis made enough inroads last season to be active for the Super Bowl. Thomas is probably the frontrunner for the TE2 spot going into camp. Newcomers Mason Pline and Eric Saubert will also be in the mix during camp, along with Jake Tonges who spent most of last year on the 49ers’ practice squad.

Still, the competition behind Kittle is wide open and getting a full training camp should help Latu make some headway in that battle.

Last preseason Latu played in all three games and caught four of his six targets for 55 yards and one touchdown.

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Dre Greenlaw absence glaring in PFF LB rankings for 2024

Fred Warner is No. 1 in the PFF LB rankings for 2024. The bigger takeaway is Dre Greenlaw’s absence.

Pro Football Focus is dolling out its positional rankings for the 2024 season. The 49ers are typically well-represented atop these rankings, and the linebacker list is no exception. Fred Warner is the No. 1-ranked off-ball LB in the sport according to the football analytics site. Warner is undeniably important to the 49ers’ defense and he is rightfully placed atop the list. What’s more important for San Francisco is the absence of LB Dre Greenlaw in the rankings.

This isn’t to say that PFF should’ve ranked Greenlaw. He tore his Achilles during the Super Bowl in February which puts serious doubt on if/when he’ll be able to participate in the 2024 campaign. Greenlaw is ambitiously aiming for a Week 1 return, while 49ers general manager John Lynch is of the belief Greenlaw will start the season on PUP. Whether the LB suits up at all is certainly still a question as his recovery from the injury continues. Not ranking him is the right move for a list looking to curate the top 32 players at the position for the 2024 season.

What his absence from the list does is underscore the hole he leaves in the 49ers’ defense. It won’t be easy to replace his production. That was abundantly clear in the Super Bowl when the Chiefs took advantage of Greenlaw’s replacement Oren Burks for a handful of key receptions late in the game.

The good news is the 49ers appear to have added an upgraded at LB when they signed free agent De’Vondre Campbell. He was an All-Pro in 2021 and earned PFF’s highest overall grade among regular off-ball LBs. Campbell is still a good player, but not playing at an All-Pro level after two up-and-down seasons for Green Bay in 2022 and 2023.

There’s a chance getting Campbell into the 49ers’ defense and playing alongside Warner will help him elevate his game back toward where it was in 2021. That alone would do wonders for mitigating the loss of Greenlaw.

San Francisco also has a couple of younger options with 2023 draft picks Dee Winters and Jalen Graham. Lynch actually invoked Greenlaw’s name when talking about Winters after the draft.

While there are some options hanging out on the roster, finding an adequate replacement for Greenlaw isn’t going to be an easy task. He was ranked 21st in overall defensive grade among LBs last season for PFF. The year before that he ranked No. 8 in that category.

Greenlaw is a terrific athlete who is a tone-setter on the 49ers’ defense (though sometimes to his detriment). He’s an aggressive, downhill run stopper who has enough speed to play in coverage against virtually any player who’ll be in a route in his area. Alongside Warner they make up the best LB duo in the NFL on a defense that has made a living out of taking away easy throws in the middle of the field thanks to their high-IQ, athletic LBs.

The 49ers defense is still plenty talented and they should be very good again in 2024, but they’re undeniably worse when Greenlaw isn’t on the field. His absence from PFF’s LB rankings only drive that reality home.

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49ers dealing with a few injuries to begin OTAs

The 49ers have a handful of injury issues they’re dealing with in OTAs.

The 49ers are dealing with some lingering injury problems as they begin OTAs. A key component of the voluntary sessions is getting through them healthy and San Francisco is exercising caution in getting some injured players back into action.

Head coach Kyle Shanahan on Tuesday had a handful of injury updates after the 49ers wrapped up their second OTA practice.

Center Jake Brendel is dealing with knee tendonitis that Shanahan said will likely keep him out for all of OTAs.

Defensive end Drake Jackson and cornerback Charvarius Ward are both recovering from offseason surgery and didn’t practice Tuesday. Both players expect to return for training camp, which is good news for San Francisco. No news throughout the offseason program will be good news on this duo.

Two other defensive players are working back from injuries they suffered last season. Safety Talanoa Hufanga tore his ACL in Week 11 and isn’t expected back until some point during training camp. Linebacker Dre Greenlaw suffered an Achilles tear in the Super Bowl. He’s unlikely to even be available for training camp, much less OTAs.

While OTAs are an important piece of the offseason, it’s more important to ensure players are healthy when the season starts or as close to that as possible so don’t expect San Francisco to rush any injured players into action any time soon.

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Charvarius Ward confident he’ll be ready for training camp after offseason surgery

Charvarius Ward underwent surgery this offseason, but he’s confident he’ll be ready for camp.

There was a bit of a surprise this offseason when 49ers cornerback Charvarius Ward posted on Instagram that he was undergoing surgery – later confirmed to be a core muscle procedure.

Ward was coming off his best season as a pro and earned a Second-Team All-Pro nod. He is a key cog for the 49ers’ secondary so the offseason surgery was certainly cause for concern. While Ward may not be available when the team begins OTAs on Monday, he told Kay Adams on her show ‘Up and Adams’ that he expects to be a full go for training camp in late July.

“I’m still rehabbing,” Ward said. “So I’m trying to get back up to running full speed and everything like you saw me in that pick-6 clip, but I feel good. My body feels way better than it did a couple months ago. Even at the end of last season I was hurting pretty bad, like my back, groin and abdomen was hurting pretty bad. But I fought through it, I pushed through it. I’m almost at 100 percent. I’ll be ready for training camp for sure.”

Having Ward for training camp is far more important for the 49ers than having him for OTAs. It’s also encouraging to consider how effective he might be behind a revamped defensive line and without the impediment of whatever issues he was playing through last season. If Ward is better in 2024 than he was in 2023 the 49ers’ secondary should be in good shape.

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49ers injury update: Dre Greenlaw out of walking boot

Dre Greenlaw is out of his walking boot 3 months after tearing his Achilles in the Super Bowl.

The 49ers on Thursday evening got some good offseason injury news from linebacker Dre Greenlaw.

Greenlaw appeared at the Dwight Clark Legacy Series in San Jose just three months after tearing his Achilles during the 49ers’ Super Bowl LVIII loss to the Chiefs.

He told attendees his recovery process is long and slow, but he did recently removed the walking boot he’d been wearing post-surgery, offering a sign that the recovery is heading in the right direction.

General manager John Lynch told reporters at the NFL league meetings in March that Greenlaw was aiming for a Week 1 return. The GM was more reserved in his estimate, saying the star linebacker is more likely to start the season on the PUP list.

Cam Inman of the Bay Area News Group got good video of Greenlaw walking off the stage:

There’s still a long way to go for Greenlaw to return to the field, but his presence Thursday night sans-walking boot is definitely a positive update.

Until he can play again the 49ers will likely rely on veteran De’Vondre Campbell to fill Greenlaw’s Will LB role. While San Francisco would love to get Greenlaw back by Week 1, getting him back at all in 2024 would be a nice boost for their defense at some point in the middle of the year.

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49ers hopeful for Talanoa Hufanga return in training camp

Talanoa Hufanga is on track for a training camp return, which is great news for him and the 49ers. Here’s what it means for the 49ers’ roster:

The 49ers may have solved their safety depth conundrum. There were questions about Talanoa Hufanga’s availability after he tore his ACL in Week 11 last season, but head coach Kyle Shanahan on Tuesday indicated the team is hopeful it will get its starting strong safety back during training camp.

This is a pretty significant development for San Francisco, and it means their hunt for a safety in free agency will be for a depth piece instead of a starter. With Hufanga on track for a pre-Week 1 return the ambiguity of the need in the back end of the secondary is eliminated.

San Francisco will still want to add veteran depth. They need some kind of proven commodity behind Hufanga in the event of a setback or if he can’t return to full speed as quickly as they might like. However, it wouldn’t be a huge surprise to see them add a player via the draft to try and develop as a long-term piece for them with Hufanga entering the final year of his rookie contract.

For now though this is great news for Hufanga. He’ll not only be able to shore up the 49ers’ secondary, but he’ll have a full season under his belt as he hits his first free agency. The All-Pro safety was a fifth-round pick in the 2021 draft. He was a First-Team All-Pro in 2022, his first year as a starter, and was putting together another strong 2023 campaign when he got hurt.

Hufanga has started 30 of his 42 games for the 49ers, including 27 in a row before his injury. He’s posted 181 tackles, seven tackles for loss, 2.0 sacks, two forced fumbles, seven interceptions and 14 pass breakups.

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49ers LB Dre Greenlaw eyeing Week 1 return after Achilles tear

It looks like Dre Greenlaw will be able to return at some point this season, with the LB hoping for Week 1. John Lynch is eyeing something later than that.

49ers linebacker Dre Greenlaw suffered an Achilles tear in the Super Bowl that put question marks around his availability for the 2024 season. Now the LB is eyeing a Week 1 return according to general manager John Lynch. Lynch is less optimistic about the LB’s quick return.

While Greenlaw is hopeful to be back in the lineup for the 49ers in early September, Lynch is leaning more toward Greenlaw starting the season on the Physically Unable to Perform list per NBC Sports Bay Area’s Matt Maiocco.

If Greenlaw does start the regular season on the PUP list he won’t be able to practice, but he’d be eligible to return after four weeks. The PUP three-week practice window works the same as the IR practice window. He’d have 21 days from the time the window is opened to ramp up and get in football shape before the team would be required to activate him or shut him down for the year.

Even if Greenlaw returns by Week 5 or 6 it would be a huge boost for the 49ers’ defense. They added LB De’Vondre Campbell this offseason to likely fill in for Greenlaw. Whether Greenlaw takes back his starting Will LB spot or jumps in as an overqualified Sam LB will be determined down the line, but the fact he’d be ready to play at all is surely welcome news for Greenlaw and the 49ers following the timing of such a devastating injury.

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2 key 49ers undergo offseason surgery, expected back by camp

2 49ers All-Pros had offseason surgery, but both are expected back by training camp:

Two 49ers All-Pros had offseason surgery according to general manager John Lynch. Cornerback Charvarius Ward and tight end George Kittle both underwent core muscle surgery this offseason, with both expected back for the start of training camp per NBC Sports Bay Area’s Matt Maiocco.

Ward had posted about his surgery on social media, but there was no confirmation on exactly what the surgery was. Given the location of the procedure the assumption was that he’d had a core muscle operation. Lynch on Monday confirmed that.

Kittle’s surgery wasn’t as public. It’s not a surprise the 49ers’ star tight end was banged up at the end of the year given his playing style.

It’s unclear at what point either player needed the procedure, but the good news for San Francisco is that both should be back by camp. Missing offseason time is never great, but there shouldn’t be much concern that either Ward or Kittle will be ready to play once they’re cleared and training camp starts.

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49ers injury news: Deebo Samuel questionable with hamstring issue

Deebo Samuel (hamstring) is questionable to return to the Super Bowl.

Another bad injury cropped up for the 49ers midway through the third quarter of the Super Bowl. Wide receiver Deebo Samuel appeared to tweak his hamstring and he went down after pulling up on a route.

Samuel went to the blue tent for evaluation and was officially listed as questionable to return.

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49ers injury news: LB Dre Greenlaw carted off during Super Bowl

Dre Greenlaw was carted off with a lower leg injury. He’s officially questionable to return.

The 49ers entered the Super Bowl healthy, but they suffered a devastating injury to linebacker Dre Greenlaw, who was hurt running onto the field.

He’s been listed as questionable with a lower leg injury to return after being evaluated in the medical tent. The cart came out and drove him to the locker room.

Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles entered the game as the third LB with Oren Burks sliding over to Greenlaw’s Will LB spot.

Update:

The team is now calling it an Achilles injury.

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