The San Francisco 49ers were hit with bad injury news on Wednesday when it was announced that rookie wide receiver De’Zhaun Stribling would miss as many as 10 weeks after undergoing surgery on his injured ankle. It was a double dose of bad news, as tight end Jake Tonges, who played well last season, will be out for the rest of this season due to an MCL injury that will require surgery.
Both injuries will test the Niners’ depth somewhat, but they do seem loaded enough at the wide receiver spot to remain potent offensively.
They have already been without defensive ends Mykel Williams and Sam Okuayinonu and defensive tackle Alfred Collins. Their defensive line is the big position group at which they’re thin right now, not just due to injury but also due to a lack of functional depth.
But other than that, the Niners’ injury report from Wednesday’s practice looked relatively good.
Five Niners players other than Stribling sat out practice
At first glance, the fact that five other 49ers players didn’t take part in Wednesday’s practice sounds very concerning. But a closer look reveals that it isn’t concerning at all.
Per Nick Wagoner of ESPN, defensive end Nick Bosa, running back Christian McCaffrey, linebacker Dre Greenlaw and left tackle Trent Williams sat out Wednesday’s practice session. However, all four were simply resting.
Kicker Eddy Piñeiro didn’t practice due to an illness.
The fact that Bosa, McCaffrey, Greenlaw and Williams were given the day off is perhaps a bit of an encouraging sign as far as the team’s approach toward load management. The team has dealt with many big rashes of injuries over the years, and some have speculated that head coach Kyle Shanahan’s mentality of being very physical is the cause.
With the mileage that all four men have by now, it would seem prudent for their practice schedule to be somewhat limited. Each of them has been with San Francisco for at least a few years, and they can therefore get away with sitting out a number of practice sessions.
Tight end George Kittle, fullback Kyle Juszczyk, defensive end Khalid Kareem and defensive lineman Keion White were limited in practice on Wednesday.
The Niners will host the Miami Dolphins this Sunday at Levi’s Stadium, 10 days after they defeated the Los Angeles Rams, 27-7, in Melbourne, Australia.
