Today, the San Francisco 49ers got the news they feared to be true on Sunday. A MRI confirmed that Nick Bosa, the reigning Defensive Rookie of the Year, suffered a torn ACL in his left knee and will miss the remainder of the season.
“…Everyone’s got to step it up,” head coach Kyle Shanahan said on a Zoom conference call with the media Monday. “Everyone knows how great of a player Nick is…I think we all understand that, but the thing that makes you excited about that is that we do have a lot of good players on our team. Players that people know about, who I think can still get better, and I also think there’s a lot of people that people don’t know about who this opens up opportunities for, who can get better. Yeah, when you lose a great guy like that, it’s tough. But, you can look in our rooms and stuff and know that we’ve still got a lot of guys out there who can go play good football and give us a chance to win every game that we show up for.”
DL Solomon Thomas also has a torn ACL and is out for the rest of the season.
The rest of the injury fallout from yesterday’s win over the New York Jets is as follows:
- QB Jimmy Garoppolo has a high ankle sprain but has chance to play this week
- RB Raheem Mostert has a MCL sprain and is most likely out this week.
- Tevin Coleman has a knee sprain and is expected to miss several weeks.
- DL D.J. Jones has an ankle injury.
- LB Dre Greenlaw has a thigh contusion.
Should Garoppolo not be able to play, Nick Mullens will be the 49ers’ starting quarterback this Sunday against the New York Giants.
“Jimmy’s our guy, and if he’s good to go and the doctors say he’s healthy and he can go out there and protect himself, and if Jimmy feels confident in doing it and gives us the best chance to win, in that case, then Jimmy will be out there,” Shanahan said. “If Jimmy’s not safe and he can’t protect himself, then we’ll go with Nick.”
MetLife Stadium and That Turf
The 49ers return to MetLife Stadium on Sunday to take on the New York Giants, and the turf is definitely a concern. Shanahan said general manager John Lynch spoke to EVP of Football Operations at the NFL Troy Vincent today and they are looking at the turf situation.
“…We’ll look into everything this week, but you’re talking about stuff gripping and stuff too much,” Shanahan said. “I would think the only thing you could do is take off cleats, which isn’t fun either. Hopefully we’ll get something from the NFL that makes us feel better about that, but I know the players and our equipment guys will be looking at everything possible to help us with that turf.”
As If That Wasn’t Enough
The 49ers’ trip to the East Coast got off to a difficult start, when the plane they were supposed to take got into an accident of sorts.
“The plane we were supposed to take out on Friday somehow, I don’t know how, but someone crashed into it on the runway,” Shanahan said. “People working, I guess. So, they dented it and we thought they were going to fix it and then they thought it was not safe to travel. So, I’m glad they made that decision, but they got us a new plane in San Francisco. We had to go to a different airport and so it got us about a six-hour delay. So, it just got us in real late. We didn’t get in until about 2:30, land, and get to the hotel around 4:00. We were supposed to get there at 9:00, but luckily, we came on Friday. It would have been a big issue if we came on Saturday.”
After yesterday’s game, the team traveled the team traveled The Greenbrier in West Virginia, where they will stay this week. Getting answers on injuries did not go smoothly with that trip.
“…We had an MRI truck scheduled up here and that truck broke last night,” Shanahan said. “So, the local hospital is helping us out with MRIs…”
You can’t make this stuff up.
Defensive Line
- In the wake of the injuries on the defensive line, the 49ers signed DE Ziggy Ansah. “He’s a hell of a player” Shanahan said. “Can rush the passer and play the run well, so hopefully he can get in, get him in here soon and get him caught up. We were going to try to do it anyways, but the urgency of that has definitely gone up with some of the injuries we’ve had in the last 24 hours.”
- Update on Dee Ford: “…After further testing, it’s more of a back injury now than neck spasms,” Shanahan said. “So, anytime it’s the back, that is an issue. So, we’re still working into that, but at least we can clarify what it is, but that’s all I got on him.”
