Almost every time San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan has a press conference he gives a new injury update on a player.
That trend continued on Tuesday when he revealed negative injury news on veteran offensive lineman Jon Feliciano. He has been missing from practice for a while now due to a knee injury and originally was labeled as week-to-week. Feliciano is now set to have surgery and won't be available at the start of the season.
“He ended up having to get some type of, I don't know exactly the surgery he got, but he got something done and he'll end up probably starting on IR and hope to have him back towards the middle of the year,” Shanahan said.
Well, that's brutal news. Feliciano went from being week-to-week with his knee injury recovery to having surgery and being potentially placed on Injured Reserve. It's still unclear as to the specifics of his knee injury. For some reason, Shanahan keeps feigning ignorance on it.
In any case, Feliciano will not be on hand for the 49ers for the next couple of months at least. That is a bit of a sting for the 49ers. Feliciano was a solid player last season when the 49ers needed him to fill in at either left or right guard due to injuries to the starters. He would then retain his role as the starting guard after proving to be an upgrade over Spencer Burford.
Rookie Dominick Puni is poised to be the starter at right guard, which means Feliciano falls back into his swing role. However, with his injury, it looks like that will likely end up being Burford when he recovers from his broken hand since it is all but assured he won't be a starter this year.
Injuries continue to run rampant for the 49ers, especially at the offensive line. Hopefully, their bad luck eventually ceases with the regular season approaching quickly.
