Update: The 49ers have confirmed that Jerick McKinnon tore his right ACL and will miss the season. You’re up Matt Breida and Alfred Morris.
After missing the last three weeks with a calf strain and being cleared for team drills today, San Francisco 49ers’ Running Back Jerick McKinnon injured his knee in practice.
“It was the last play of practice, made a cut on air, no one was around him, just went down, looked awkward,” Head Coach Kyle Shanahan said. “We’re concerned about it but we don’t have an MRI done so we don’t know for sure…But we’re nervous about it, that’s for sure.”
ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports that the team’s worry is that it’s a torn ACL.
“…[A]nytime I watch someone feel their knee, there’s always that concern,” Shanahan said of a potential torn ACL. “But I have felt that way before and it hasn’t been…We hope that we’re wrong.”
Losing McKinnon, who was the 49ers biggest free agent signing, would be a blow to the offense, but RB2 Matt Breida has been cleared and should be ready for Week One against the Minnesota Vikings, while Alfred Morris and Raheem Mostert are the other two options at running back.
“The thing that was unusual was the timing of it, just a couple of hours before the final cuts and we are extremely concerned but we don’t know for sure until we get an MRI,” said Shanahan. “So he’s got to be a part of our 53 and if we get a bad MRI tomorrow, then obviously he’ll have to go on IR so that’s why everything is very fluid…”
McKinnon’s MRI should take place later today, so make sure you’re following @49ersfangirl for updates.
The 53-man Roster
With the 49ers roster set, at least for now, the 49ers cut Pita Taumopenu and Jeremiah Attaochu, both edge rushers on a defense that needs edge rushers.
Shanahan said his hope is to have Taumopenu on the practice squad. The same is true of QB Nick Mullens.
Cole Wick beat out Cole Hickutini for the third tight end job, with Shanahan saying Wick’s blocking helped make the difference.
The 49ers will decide tomorrow whether to put Offensive Lineman Erik Magnuson and Safety Marcell Harris on injured reserve tomorrow, with the plan for them to return this season.
Lot of moving parts, but in the meantime, you can find the full 53-man roster here.
And also
General Manager John Lynch confirmed that the Niners did engage in talks for Khalil Mack, but it was not to be.
“…[W]e would have been foolish not to,” Lynch said. “The guy is a spectacular player. We’ve always said we’re going to exhaust every option to improve our team. So, we did, we went in aggressively but also knowing that we had to set some parameters, and we did and somebody else landed him. We’re excited about our team.”
