Injuries continue to pile up for San Francisco.
The 49ers (3-2) defense was without several starters as it began preparations for a week six matchup with the Atlanta Falcons (2-3).
Despite the loss of Jimmie Ward for the first four games during training, defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans has been able to navigate his group to the top of the NFL.
Since the beginning of the season Ward has been joined on the sideline by Azeez Al-Shaair, Arik Armstead, and Javon Kinlaw. Each of the three has missed a pair of games during the early going.
During Sunday’s victory in Carolina, Ryans saw Nick Bosa leave at halftime with a tight groin. Prior to Wednesday’s practice, Kyle Shanahan said while Bosa was not feeling good enough to practice today he would not rule out the defensive end for Sunday.
Losing Bosa would no doubt be a blow; however, the 49ers defense was able to record six sacks against Carolina on Sunday.
Samson Ebukam joined Bosa on the sideline. According to Shanahan, the defensive end was dealing with tendinitis in his Achilles. The coach said playing on artificial turf in Carolina was the reason for the flare up.
Defensive line wasn’t the only group looking for reinforcements.
San Francisco will be without Emmanuel Moseley for the remainder of the season. The cornerback suffered a torn ACL in his knee late in Sunday’s game.
Jimmie Ward will miss some time as well. Ward injured his left hand while covering the opening kickoff. He stayed in for the first defensive snap before heading to the sideline. The veteran underwent surgery on Tuesday. According to Shanahan the injury will keep Ward out for a few weeks, however they will reevaluate the situation in about ten days to see if he can play with the cast.
The news wasn’t all negative.
Jason Verrett continues to work towards returning to the lineup. The cornerback had one of the best seasons of his career in 2020 but was lost to a torn ACL in week one last season.
Kyle Shanahan has said on a number of occasions they will be cautious with bringing Verrett back too quickly. He reiterated this today.
“You have to test everything out to make sure he is ready. Not just that he’s feeling good and says he is good and looking quick. You have to make sure you can go through all the routes, see everything in practice, stuff you figure out throughout training camp. But sometimes it’s tough on just a card at practice, last year or in ‘19, we all felt like he was there and then he got in some situations where you could see he wasn’t. So that’s what we’re trying to not do.”
All is not lost for San Francisco if Verrett is unable to go. Ambry Thomas played a large role for the team down the stretch last season, and Dontae Johnson started in Thomas’ place in the 49ers playoff win against Green Bay. Another option is rookie Samuel Womack. Womack began the season as the starting nickelback. However, he played on the outside throughout his collegiate career at the University of Toledo.
The popular opinion coming into the season was the 49ers roster was among the best in the league. Their depth will continue to be tested in the coming weeks.
Notes:
Ty Davis-Price returned made his return to practice. The rookie running back had missed the last three games after suffering a high ankle sprain against Seattle. Davis-Price was listed as a full participant on Wednesday.
Tyler Kroft and Tarvarius Moore returned to practice as well. Kroft is coming back from a knee injury suffered against Seattle. Moore injured his hamstring against Denver in week three.
“All is not lost…” Such a familiar refrain for the injury-prone and injury-plagued 49ers under Coach Kyle Shanahan, this less than a third into the 2022 season. Who’s next??? Garoppolo? Deebo? Wilson? Warner? Verrett yet again? Over the last six years it just never seems to end.
Jack,
I picked up Jeff Wilson on my fantasy team after all the RB injuries. Thinking about trading him since this is probably the most valuable he will ever be in his career. What’s your sense of Wilson’s usage with TDP coming back and Mitchell not too far behind? Wilson has looked great to me. Much faster and more decisive than TDP. Clearly the 2nd best back on the roster in my opinion. Are you seeing or hearing anything on the plan for touches for Wilson?
I’d expect Wilson to still be the primary guy and be around 15 or so carries per game.
CBS sports has Jimmy G rated as their #15 QB in the NFL. Do the readers here believe that he is a top 15 QB? Is 15 too high or too low? I think he should be #13 ahead of Stafford and Wilson. The ratings are for this season so far only. It has nothing to do with career rankings.
Coach,
Middle of the pack is pretty much what I expect of JG.
Jimmy’s current QB rating probably doesn’t bring him success on a lesser team, but with the 49ers, he only needs to get the ball to his many weapons and take care of the ball.
AES,
I think Houston with their running attack and defense would be much better with Jimmy G than they are with Mills.
13-15 right now sounds about right.
I really don’t like these types of rankings. I think the top of the list and the bottom of the list are pretty easy to determine. But for the rest, the rankings have so many variables it’s impossible to do a true ranking. For example, Jimmy G is number 15 and Marcus Mariota is 29 on that list. If Jimmy G and MM traded places for the past 5 years I think Mariota would be just as successful as Jimmy in this 49er offense – maybe even better. Mariota will never be a top 5 guy but he is unquestionably more talented in every aspect of QB play than Jimmy G with the exception of maybe release speed.
Jimmy consistently has ranked in the top 15 and sometimes in the top 10. Marcus may have more physical skills than Jimmy but those a re not the the only skills required and probably not the most important ones as well. I’d rank mental skills ahead of physical skills for a QB.
Jack,
What’s your sense regarding Kinlaw’s recent knee issues?
I hope I’m wrong on this, but I personally believe that Javon will have reoccurring issues on his knee throughout his career.
Another concern is that even when he can play, will he be able to play at 100%.
As a GM, I get a sense that John Lynch might be thinking along this line as well.
And if so, I hope that he is prospecting Siaki Ika of Baylor,
My fear is that Ika doesn’t make it out of the late 1st or early 2nd round. But, he is worth making a deal for.
It seems that your belief will be correct. This setback is what they were hoping to avoid with the surgery.
Jack,
Any word on who will replace Moseley this week?
Nothing yet. I don’t think we’ll get an answer on that until pregame warmups.
1.6 patriot….I guess that you have to be an ‘Old Oregon Duck’ to really appreciate Marcus Mariota ….I suppose that people weren’t looking when he won the Heisman award and then was good enough to be chosen high enough to go to the worst team in the league….NOT a first for U of Oregon…Joey Harrington had the same fate with the Lions and Matt Millan until they finally wore him out. Put Jimmy G, Joey H, and Marcus M, in a 40 yard dash and see who comes out ahead….? I was hoping that the niners would grab MM in free agency, but unfortunately (or Fortunately) I’m not in the 49er front office. ….He can run, pass, and run an offense….maybe next year….
Jack,
Would be nice to see a couple of shots downfield to Danny Gray, now that he’s looking like a go on Sunday.
All Jimmy has to do is throw it with all his might the moment he gets the snap and let DG catch up to it, lol.
I can’t wait to see what Danny brings to the offense. If he can become another weapon, WOW!
ha ha – you still have hopes of Jimmy throwing deep?
We are just wasting Aiyuk’s talent
Coach,
Yup, you’re right. I’m just hoping for Jimmy to get one off in the 30-40 yard range. Obviously, this isn’t considered a deep throw, unless it’s JG throwing it.