Alexander might join Sherman on injured reserve

Inside linebacker Kwon Alexander might be going on injured reserve.

And, despite optimistic indications to the contrary, cornerback Richard Sherman won’t be coming off IR.

Yes, the bad injury news keeps piling up for a hobbled 49ers defense that surrendered its most points at home since 2009 in a 4317 loss to the Dolphins on Sunday.

On Monday, head coach Kyle Shanahan said Alexander suffered a possible high ankle sprain against Miami. Meanwhile, Sherman, who has missed the past four games with a calf injury, had “setbacks” last week and isn’t expected to play Sunday against the Rams.

Alexander, 26, played through his injury against Miami, missing just one snap. Shanahan didn’t mention Alexander when discussing injured players after the game.

“We could be wrong, ( but) right now they told me they believe it’s a high ankle sprain,” Shanahan said. “They’re not sure of the severity of it. It could be a minor one, for whatever that means. So that’s why — if it was an automatic high ankle sprain, I’d be talking about IR right now. But they told me to hold on that because they think it could be a minor one.”

Sherman, 32, also dealt with calf issues throughout the 2018 season when he was coming off surgeries on both Achilles. Shanahan said Sherman would get shots this week that could help with inflammation.

“The healing hasn’t gone the way we were hoping for,” Shanahan said. “So I know we’re going to try a few different procedures this week. But I’m not counting on him this week. We’ll see how that goes with the new stuff we’re going to try.”

Shanahan said the 49ers’ other starting cornerback,

Emmanuel Moseley, remains in the concussion protocol, but Shanahan is optimistic he could play against the Rams. Moseley has missed the past two games.

QB update: Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo didn’t finish Sunday’s game after playing on a high ankle sprain, but Shanahan suggested he has a chance to start against the Rams.

Shanahan said Garoppolo’s ankle was sore Monday, but nothing happened that made it worse. He reiterated that Garoppolo could have stayed in the game against Miami, but the 49ers’ 23point halftime deficit was a reason he was sidelined for the second half. Shanahan has acknowledged that Garoppolo’s injury played a role in a twointerception performance that included a 15.7 passer rating.

“We’ll see how he is on Wednesday; I expect him to be at least the same, if not better,” Shanahan said. “So, hopefully … we’ll have no setbacks Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and, hopefully, we can get him out there Sunday night.”