Tag: 49ers injury news

Talanoa Hufanga officially back for 49ers

He’s back.

The San Francisco 49ers’ secondary will get a much-needed boost when the club visits the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday at SoFi Stadium.

While All-Pros litter the team’s injury report, one player’s name was noticeably absent. Strong safety Talanoa Hufanga made it through a week of full practices and is in line to start San Francisco’s Week 3 game in LA. It’ll mark his first game action since he tore his ACL in Week 11 last year.

Hufanga didn’t participate in training camp, but got close enough to returning to come off the Physically Unable to Perform list at final cuts. That made him eligible to return as soon as he was ready instead of waiting the requisite four weeks had he stayed on an injured list.

The 2022 All-Pro was limited throughout Weeks 1 and 2 before returning for full practices leading up to Week 3.

It’s unclear whether he’ll have a full complement of snaps or if the club will rotate in another safety.

Either way, having Hufanga back will provide a lift for a 49ers secondary that has some significant question marks with Charvarius Ward listed as questionable because of knee and hamstring injuries.

San Francisco struggled some with communication in the secondary against the Vikings, which is something Hufanga should be able to immediately help with even if he isn’t at full speed just yet.

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49ers Week 3 injury report: 1 All-Pro out, 1 doubtful, 2 more questionable

The #49ers Week 3 injury report is out. Official updates on George Kittle, Nick Bosa and Charvarius Ward:

The San Francisco 49ers released their official Week 3 injury report following Friday’s practice and provided confirmation on the statuses of some of their ailing stars.

Here’s what the injury report looks like per head coach Kyle Shanahan:

Out

WR Deebo Samuel (calf)

Samuel was ruled out for Week 3 on Monday when Shanahan told reporters he’ll miss a couple weeks with a calf strain.

Doubtful

TE George Kittle (hamstring)

This is a brutal blow for the 49ers’ offense. Kittle was in line for a ton of targets due to Samuel and McCaffrey’s absences. The small silver lining is that the team hasn’t officially ruled him out, which means he could be on track to suit up in Week 4 after his hamstring injury cropped up in the middle of the week.

Questionable

DE Nick Bosa (rib)
CB Charvarius Ward (knee, hamstring)

Bosa and Ward were both surprise additions to the practice participation report on Thursday. Ward was out of Thursday’s session, but returned Friday. Defensive coordinator Nick Sorensen said the team held Ward out for precautionary reasons after he experienced soreness. Bosa was limited in Thursday’s session after a full practice on Wednesday. The 49ers will likely have an adequate replacement for Ward, it’s less likely they’ll have the depth to withstand a game without Bosa in their already struggling pass rush.

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49ers practice participation report crowded after good start to Week 3

Ummm … uh oh!

The San Francisco 49ers started off Week 3 on the right foot.

After absences and limited participations littered their first six practice participation reports, Wednesday’s report was relatively empty. Wide receiver Deebo Samuel was a non-participant as expected. Every other player was a full go to kick off Week 3’s practices.

With Thursday came disaster.

Samuel remained out, as expected. He’s dealing with a calf strain that will sideline him for a couple weeks. Joining him among non-participants were All-Pro tight end George Kittle and All-Pro cornerback Charvarius Ward.

All-Pro defensive end Nick Bosa was also a surprise on the participation report. He was limited by a rib injury.

Here’s the full report:

Did not participate

WR Deebo Samuel (calf)
TE George Kittle (hamstring)
CB Charvarius Ward (knee, hamstring)

Neither Kittle nor Ward were on Wednesday’s report. There’s no info on when they got hurt or the severity of their ailments. Head coach Kyle Shanahan will speak with reporters Friday. The signs aren’t great for their availability Sunday, but their statuses won’t be known until Friday’s injury report.

Limited participation

DE Nick Bosa (ribs)

This isn’t great! It’s unclear when Bosa got hurt or what the nature of the ailment is. We’ll keep a close eye on his status in Friday’s session.

Full participation

SS Talanoa Hufanga (knee)
LB Dee Winters (ankle)

Hufanga got through his first full practice without any setbacks and was a full participant again Thursday. He remains on track to make his season debut in Week 3.

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49ers injury update: 2 more All-Pros go down before Week 3

More injuries for the 49ers. Sheesh.

The San Francisco 49ers looked to be stabilizing on the injury front.

Christian McCaffrey is already on IR with Achilles tendinitis. Deebo Samuel has been ruled out for Weeks 3 and 4 with a calf injury. It looked like those would be their only injuries going into Week 3 after a relatively clean practice participation report on Wednesday.

Reporting from Thursday’s practice painted a different picture that indicates a couple more 49ers stars were hurt at some point between the end of Wednesday’s practice and the start of Thursday’s.

ESPN’s Nick Wagoner was first to report cornerback Charvarius Ward and tight end George Kittle would both miss Thursday’s practice. Ward has hamstring and knee problems, while Kittle is nursing a hamstring issue.

Their absences Thursday put their status for Sunday in jeopardy, although nothing will be official until the team releases its injury report Friday.

If Ward can’t go we may see rookie CB Renardo Green get the start at nickel corner with Isaac Yiadom stepping in as a full-time outside CB for Ward.

No Kittle means the 49ers will be down three All-Pros on offense. The club figured to rely heavily on him while McCaffrey and Samuel were out. Now it appears Eric Saubert and Jake Tonges are in line for tight end snaps if Kittle is unable to play in Week 3.

The 49ers will visit the Rams on Sunday. Kickoff from SoFi Stadium is slated for 1:25pm Pacific Time.

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All but 1 player a full participant in 49ers’ first Week 3 practice

The 49ers had all but 1 player in practice Wednesday.

The San Francisco 49ers had a good start to their week of practice leading up to a Week 3 showdown with the Los Angeles Rams.

After having busy practice participation reports for the first couple weeks, the 49ers only had three players listed after Wednesday’s session. Two of those players were full participants.

Here’s what the participation report looked like:

Did not participate

WR Deebo Samuel (calf)

This isn’t a surprise since head coach Kyle Shanahan indicated Samuel would miss multiple weeks with a calf injury. He isn’t likely to participate at all for at least the next two weeks. The club will officially rule him out for Sunday’s game on Friday when the injury report is released.

Full participation

SS Talanoa Hufanga (knee)
LB Dee Winters (ankle)

This is a great sign for Hufanga. Shanahan said before practice that he’d be a full participant in Wednesday’s session. The fourth-year safety appears to have gotten through the practice without any issues. He’s on track to make his season debut Sunday. Winters has yet to play this season as well. He was questionable in Week 2, and now is in line to suit up against the Rams.

For now, no news is good news for the 49ers. They’ve dealt with a slew of injury problems to start the year, but if they can stabilize things moving forward they should be in a good spot to be healthy come playoff time.

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A little good news on calf injury for 49ers’ do-everything WR

A sigh of relief on the Deebo Samuel injury front.

The San Francisco 49ers won’t have wide receiver Deebo Samuel for a couple weeks because of a calf injury he sustained late in the 49ers’ 23-17 loss to the Minnesota Vikings.

While missing Samuel will make life substantially more difficult for the 49ers’ offense, head coach Kyle Shanahan gave a small reason for optimism that the All-Pro wide receiver won’t miss much more time than expected.

Shanahan on Wednesday in a press conference was asked if there was an Achilles element to Samuel’s calf injury. The head coach responded with a flat, “no.”

While it seems like an extreme jump to ask about the Achilles tendon when a player is only supposed to miss a couple weeks with a calf strain, it’s fair given how things went with running back Christian McCaffrey. McCaffrey was originally ruled out for the preseason with a calf strain. That has since grown into an Achilles tendinitis issue that pushed the reigning Offensive Player of the Year to IR where he’ll miss at least four more games after missing the season opener.

However, it’s terrific news for the 49ers that Samuel isn’t dealing with something similar. He was a workhorse in the first two games for San Francisco, racking up 23 touches in those contests. That’s the most among wide receivers through the first two weeks.

They may need to ease up on his touches some once he returns, but for now they’re lucky that his calf strain isn’t part of a larger injury that’ll keep him out more than the initial prognosis.

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Return of key starter should help some of 49ers defensive woes

Talanoa Hufanga is so back.

The San Francisco 49ers were expecting to get strong safety Talanoa Hufanga back against the Los Angeles Rams in Week 3.

Head coach Kyle Shanahan on Wednesday confirmed in a press conference that Hufanga will get a full practice in to begin the week. He’s on track to suit up Sunday when the 49ers visit the Rams. It will be his first game action since tearing his ACL in Week 11 last season.

Shanahan said the team is excited to get its All-Pro back in the secondary.

“But obviously, you always miss Huf out there,” Shanahan said. “The big play capability, how well he communicates, flying sideline to sideline. We’re going to be pumped. He should get back this week if everything goes right. We’ve missed him.”

Hufanga should help the 49ers clean up a couple of problems that plagued them in a 23-17 loss to the Vikings in Week 2.

Safety George Odum, who stepped in for Hufanga as the starting strong safety during training camp and the preseason, struggled vs. Minnesota. He was beat for a 97-yard touchdown that flipped the game and wound up coming out of the game for rookie Malik Mustapha.

Miscommunications were a pretty significant problem for the 49ers on Sunday as well. They gave up an easy touchdown on a miscommunication, and a key first down on the Vikings’ final scoring drive that looked like a communication breakdown in the secondary.

Getting everyone in the secondary on the same page should help a 49ers defense that is allowing opponents to convert a whopping 59.1 percent of their third downs. San Francisco has two interceptions, but both have come from linebackers. Having another playmaking safety in the back end of the defense should help the 49ers generate some more takeaways as well.

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More bad injury news for 49ers as star receiver goes down

Deebo Samuel is out a couple weeks.

The San Francisco 49ers can’t catch a break on the injury front.

Head coach Kyle Shanahan didn’t have any updates in his press conference immediately following Sunday’s loss to the Minnesota Vikings.

On Monday in a conference call with reporters, Shanahan said wide receiver Deebo Samuel strained his calf in Week 2 and will miss a couple weeks.

Samuel has been extremely active for the 49ers in their first two games with running back Christian McCaffrey out. He has 13 catches for 164 yards, including eight for 110 yards in San Francisco’s Week 2 defeat. Samuel also has 13 rushing yards and one touchdown on 10 carries. He’s gotten 29.2 percent of the team’s targets during the first two games.

With the 2021 All-Pro out, the 49ers badly need 2023 All-Pro wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk to step up. Through two games, Aiyuk has only six catches for 71 yards.

If Samuel misses just two weeks, he’d be out for the 49ers’ Week 3 game against the Rams in Los Angeles, and their Week 4 showdown at home against the New England Patriots.

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49ers injury news a silver lining from loss to Vikings

A silver lining in the injury news from the 49ers’ loss to the Vikings.

The San Francisco 49ers looked dreadful in a 23-17 Week 2 loss to the Minnesota Vikings.

They never led at US Bank Stadium. It was their fourth-consecutive wire-to-wire loss at Minnesota, and their eighth-straight loss on the road against the Vikings.

While the dreary defeat didn’t feature many on-field silver linings, head coach Kyle Shanahan offered a little good news after the game. He told reporters in his postgame press conference that there were no injuries to report immediately following the game.

Defensive end Nick Bosa appeared to hurt his left ankle during the game and exited briefly, but he returned without any further issues. Bosa posted a pair of sacks in the game.

Tight end George Kittle was also taken to the locker room on a cart according to the CBS broadcast, but he was suffering from cramps and received IVs before returning to the field. Kittle finished the contest with seven catches for 76 yards and one touchdown.

DE Yetur Gross-Matos, wide receiver Jauan Jennings and left guard Aaron Banks were all dealing with injury issues during the week. They all played and didn’t appear to have problems during the contest.

Shanahan will talk with reporters Tuesday in a conference call and provide any additional injury updates. If San Francisco can stabilize on that front after a preseason full of various health issues, it would put them in position to withstand Christian McCaffrey’s IR stint.

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New Christian McCaffrey injury update is bad news for 49ers RB

This CMC update is not awesome!

The San Francisco 49ers are without running back Christian McCaffrey for at least four weeks.

A report from NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport indicates it could be longer than that.

Rapoport on Sunday morning reported McCaffrey is expected to be out at least six weeks — that would be at least two weeks beyond the mandated four-week absence when a player goes on Injured Reserve.

The 49ers officially placed McCaffrey on IR on Saturday. A four-week absence would make San Francisco’s Week 6 matchup against the Seattle Seahawks the earliest he could return. If McCaffrey is out six weeks it means his return would come against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 8.

With a bye in Week 9, it wouldn’t be a huge surprise if the 49ers pushed him back to Week 10 just to ensure he has enough time off to stabilize a tricky Achilles tendinitis injury that has plagued him since Week 17 of last year.

Buried in Rapoport’s report was a sliver of good news.

He also said there’s not an increased risk of an Achilles tear, and that McCaffrey is out because his injury makes it difficult to play the running back position pain free.

It always seemed like an IR stint was coming for McCaffrey. Calf and Achilles injuries can linger and it makes more sense for the 49ers to sit him for a prolonged period now than increase the risk having him miss postseason games.

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