Niners Nation
However, it doesn’t seem like Chris Conley will play.
The San Francisco 49ers returned to practice Wednesday with a lengthy injury report, per Kyle Shanahan:
Did not participate:
DT Kevin Givens (groin)
WR Chris Conley (hamstring)
CB Charvarius Ward (personal)
Limited:
K Jake Moody (ankle)
WR Deebo Samuel (ribs/oblique)
WR Jauan Jennings (hip)
RB Christian McCaffrey (Achilles/calf)
DE Yetur Gross-Matos (knee)
P Mitch Wishnowsky (back)
OL Jon Feliciano (knee)
Ward is in Dallas, Texas, for the funeral of his 1-year-old daughter, Amani, which is on Friday.
Shanahan said McCaffrey made it out of Monday’s practice without any pain or issues, albeit Monday was a light practice. McCaffrey will play so long as he doesn’t have any pain after practice or suffer a setback. Perhaps it’s not far-fetched to assume McCaffrey will have a full workload in his first week back.
When asked about McCaffrey’s workload, Shanahan went full-Bill Belichick, saying, “It definitely could, but it definitely might not.”
Shanahan and McCaffrey don’t believe the current injuries to Christian are related to playing 20 games a season ago: “Things happen to a body. I don’t think that has to do with numbers. When a guy is healthy and good, they’re usually good. Usually, I don’t chalk numbers one year to affect the injury the next year.”
The 49ers will keep an eye on McCaffrey to see what kind of football shape he’s in. Other than setbacks, that’s the main concern.
Shanahan joked that he wouldn’t officially announce McCaffrey would play publicly until kickoff. When asked what he needs to see from CMC this week, Shanahan said, “That he’s just Christian McCaffrey and he’s not hurting.
As long as everything, and it has during the rehab, just as long as it doesn’t get sore and have setbacks each day with practice. Usually, if you get that in practice, it’ll be worse in the game. So hopefully, he can string together three days in a row and not have any of those.”
Getting Jennings back will be massive for the passing game, especially against a defense that vacates the portions of the field where Jennings has the most success.
Conley’s hamstring injury must be serious if he’s still not practicing after the bye week. It explains why the 49ers signed a receiver familiar with Shanahan’s system to the practice squad.
Jennings and Samuel returning as the starting wideouts with Ricky Pearsall on the field in some capacity is great news, but the 49ers are still an injury away from relying on Ronnie Bell. That’s where a veteran like Gage comes into play.
