SF hoping for more key returns
Niners on Sunday set team record with 74 players used on the season
The 49ers set a franchise record Sunday: 74 different players have appeared in a game this season.
Coach Kyle Shanahan is hoping two very important ones come back from injury to play in the coming weeks. Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo and tight end George Kittle are preparing for potential returns later this month.
“I’m holding out hope for Jimmy for the last couple of weeks,” Shanahan said Tuesday. “Same with Kittle. I think they’re in a similar boat, but that, I mean, that’s not guaranteed.”
Neither will practice this week in Arizona nor play for the 49ers (5- 6) in Monday night’s game against the Buffalo Bills (8-3) at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, the 49ers’ new home base because of Santa Clara County’s COVIDrelated ban on contact sports.
Garoppolo (ankle) and Kittle (foot) have missed the past month as the 49ers (5- 6) have struggled, although playoff hopes were recharged after Sunday’s 23-20 win over the Los Angeles Rams.
“They’re just starting to get into where they get on the field and not with us but on their own to do some stuff,” Shanahan said of their rehabs, adding that he is “very happy” with how Nick Mullens quarterbacked the 49ers last game.
expected wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk, tight end Daniel Helm and defensive linemen D. J. Jones and Jordan Willis to come off the NFL’s COVID-19 reserve list on Tuesday. They did not but still could in time to travel Wednesday with the team to Arizona.
That quartet was among a season-high nine players the 49ers had on the reserve list last week. Shanahan blamed that mass on players consorting after their last game, a Nov. 15 loss in New Orleans.
“We’re not allowed to bond in those spots,” Shanahan said of potential team- bonding sessions in Arizona. “That’s what guys did for 30 minutes after dinner after the New Orleans game and that’s what got us a couple positive tests.”
MORE PLAYERS NEEDED >> Cornerbacks Jamar Taylor (knee) and Ken Webster (hamstring) will push the 49ers’ tally to 28 players on Injured Reserve since training camp, including three practice-squad players. Taylor sustained a torn anterior cruciate ligament Sunday, and Webster’s hamstring strain was severe.
Defensive ends Dee Ford ( back) and Ronald Blair ( knee), as well as center Weston Richburg ( biceps, knee), are not expected to play in the remaining games, Shanahan said. Only Ford has played this season, doing so in the opener before a neck and back injury sidelined him.
This year’s injury-laden club eclipsed the franchise record Sunday for players used in a season when defensive linemen Darrion Daniels and Willie Henry Jr. entered in relief. The previous mark was 72 during Shanahan’s first season as coach in 2017.
With five games to go, the 49ers are 10 newcomers shy of the NFL record, set last year when the Miami Dolphins deployed 84 players.
Cornerback R ichard Sherman and running backs Raheem Mostert and Jeff Wilson came off IR to help spark Sunday’s win. Only linebacker Mark Nzeocha (qua d r iceps) might potentially come off IR this week. Other injuries to watch are those to nickel back K’Waun Williams (ankle), running back Tevin Coleman (knee), center Ben Garland (calf) and linebacker Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles (hamstring).
PLAYOFF PIDTURE >> Shanahan “promised” he hasn’t looked at the playoff picture, but he’s heard about it from “everyone” all the time.
The 49ers are last in the NFC West but within striking range of their division foes: Seattle (8-3), Los Angeles (7- 4) and Arizona (65). Also ahead of the 49ers in contention for the three wild- card spots is Tampa Bay (7- 5) and, based on current tiebreakers, Minnesota (5- 6) and Chicago (5- 6).