Players Coming Back From Injuries, But Backups Will Continue To See Minutes For 49ers

Following the 49ers’ second preseason win of 2022, the team has several players returning to practice this week, but many won’t see action until the start of regular season.

“We expect to get back in practice this week: [CB Emmanuel Moseley], [DL Arik] Armstead, [TE] Charlie Woerner, [OL] Jaylon Moore, [LB] Curtis Robinson, and [CB] Dontae Johnson and possibly [CB] Ambry [Thomas],” head coach Kyle Shanahan told the media during a conference call Sunday.

Saturday’s contest also yielded two more injuries as WR Austin Mack suffered a hamstring injury that’ll likely keep him out a few weeks, while OT Sam Schlueter is ailing from knee tendinitis. He is day-to-day. Among the players missing from Saturday’s exhibition against the Minnesota Vikings was backup OL Colton McKivitz, as he now prepares to be the starting right tackle while Mike McGlinchey nurses a knee injury.

“Just because of how much work he got in the week and right now he is our starting right tackle,” Shanahan said regarding his week 2 absence. “We got him a lot of work and I plan on him starting this game on Thursday.”

But what does McKivitz’s start say about the timeline of McGlinchey?

“It just says he’s not healthy right now,” Shanahan said. “We’re going to test him next week and we’ll see how it is.”

The Notre Dame product will likely take over the starting role once the regular season starts. But for now, expect to see McKivitz amongst the starters Thursday in Houston, including QB Trey Lance.

Aaron Banks and Spencer Burford, two young guards, were the only projected starters on the offensive side of the ball to see time Saturday. Both produced mixed results in limited action.

“Both of them made some mistakes and then it was nice to see them both come back and rebound there in the second quarter and do some good things,” Shanahan said.

As for the quarterback play, Shanahan felt that both Nate Sudfeld and rookie Brock Purdy had positive takeaways from the game.

“Nate’s done a good job, so I don’t think [conservative passes] have been the case at all. …You want him to make the right play that you call, depending on the coverage that they see and based off of how the pass rush is, based off of people beating man coverage and based off getting the ball to the right spot with the timing of the play. So I thought Nate has had a good camp, just like all the other quarterbacks no one’s perfect, but trying to do it on every play.

“Brock was a four-year starter in the Big Ten and I think that doesn’t get talked about enough, how much experience that is for someone. For him to have that many games under his belt, that’s a lot of football and I know it’s college football, but that’s still a lot of pressure from a freshman all the way to his senior year. So Brock has played a lot of quarterback and he’s come here and hasn’t let the big lights or being around NFL players change that. He’s been kind of the same guy that you’ve seen on tape and that’s allowed him to have a chance to get better,” Shanahan stated.

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