Shanahan admits 49ers’ injury luck is ‘tough pill to swallow’
As the injuries pile on, 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan can’t help but admit it is tough to manage San Francisco’s depth chart heading into Week 4 of the 2024 NFL season.
The eighth-year coach detailed how the current 49ers have rough luck injury-wise compared to his past teams in a conference call Monday.
“Yeah, injuries are always a part of it,” Shanahan said. “We’ve had to deal with it a number of years, sometimes more than others. I think last year just mainly with some of our main guys, we were very fortunate. They didn’t miss too many games.
“This year has been totally different to start out. So that’s been real tough. I’d like to try to stay positive with it, that all of them eventually are going to come back, but that probably changed with Hargrave today so that was a tough pill to swallow there. But yeah, we definitely haven’t had the luck that we had last year.”
Shanahan will make do with the 1-2 49ers. That won’t be an easy feat given who is available.
Defensive tackle Javon Hargrave likely is out for the 2024 NFL season with a partially torn triceps, Shanahan added during the call, while running back Christian McCaffrey is in Germany to see a specialist for Achilles tendinitis and calf tightness.
Wide receiver Deebo Samuel and George Kittle still are recovering from their leg injuries, and wideout Ricky Pearsall remains sidelined because of his gunshot wound. Don’t forget linebacker Dre Greenlaw, who remains out because of the ruptured Achilles he suffered in Super Bowl LVIII.
San Francisco wasn’t this banged up last season en route to its 12-5 regular-season finish. There were injuries, but the 49ers weren’t desperately utilizing their practice-squad players weekly.
Fortunately for the 49ers, 14 games remain. Unfortunately for Shanahan, he is in charge of righting the ship.
The San Francisco 49ers received the worst-case scenario for defensive tackle Javon Hargrave on Monday. Kyle Shanahan said Hargrave suffered a partially torn triceps and will miss the rest of the season.
This comes after Shanahan said that Hargrave had his best game of the season against the Los Angeles Rams. Hargrave’s injury requires surgery, which will sideline him for a few months. Shanahan said there’s a chance Hargrave could return, but it would be late in the playoffs.
The Niners are expecting Kalia Davis to return soon, per Shanahan. He’s scheduled to return from the Injured Reserve in the coming weeks. The 49ers will exhaust every option available to them to fill Hargrave’s role. Other options on the team include T.Y. McGill and Evan Anderson on the practice squad.
Hargrave led all defensive tackles in total pressures in Week 3, and Myles Garrett was the only player along the defensive line with a higher pressure rate than Javon. Needless to say, this is a gut-wrenching loss.
Hargrave ended up playing through his injury and re-entered the game in the fourth quarter after this play:
