When it rains, it pours for the 2024 San Francisco 49ers.
After losing Christian McCaffrey to a knee injury during Sunday’s blowout loss to the Buffalo Bills, 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan revealed on Monday that backup running back Jordan Mason also suffered an ankle injury that will likely include a trip to the injured reserve list.
McCaffrey, who missed the first eight games of the regular season due to Achilles injuries, will likely be sidelined for the rest of the season with a PCL (posterior cruciate ligament) injury.
Here’s more from Shanahan, who also shared an update on San Francisco’s backup quarterback position, the running back plan going forward, and much more.
Breaking: 49ers RB Christian McCaffrey is headed to the IR with a six-week PCL injury, likely ending his season, Kyle Shanahan announced.
RB Jordan Mason suffered an ankle injury vs. the Bills and is also being placed on IR. pic.twitter.com/qLs1sORsmm
— ESPN (@espn) December 2, 2024
San Francisco 49ers Injury Updates
Opening comments from head coach Kyle Shanahan:
“Alright guys, injuries from the game: [DL] Kevin Givens did have a torn peck, he’ll end up going to IR, [RB] Christian McCaffrey was a PCL, shouldn’t need surgery but still about a six-week recovery so he’ll be going on IR also, and the surprise one from the game was [RB Jordan] J.P. Mason ended up having a high-ankle sprain, so he’s going to have to go to IR, most likely, also. And that’s it from the game. Go ahead.”
What is the plan at running back? Obviously, you have RB Isaac Guerendo, but will you have to be adding some people at that position?
“Yeah, we have Guerendo. Obviously, he’ll be up. We’ve got [RB] Patrick [Taylor Jr.] here who is on our practice squad, who will definitely be bumped up now, who was on our roster earlier in the year before Christian came back. And we’ll most likely have to look for another.”
Do you have any updates on the other guys who were injured before the game, DL Nick Bosa and T Trent Williams?
“Yeah, I’ll hit them all here. [OL Aaron] Banks is still in the protocol, [DL Jordan] Elliott is still in the protocol, [LB Demetrius] Flannigan-Fowles with his knee, he will be day-to-day this week, [DB Deommodore Lenoir] Dmo with his knee, we’re expecting to get back and practice on Wednesday, Nick, same thing, we’ll have to evaluate him, him and Trent are kind of in the same boat, we’re going to have to evaluate as the week goes.
“And then IR guys, [LB Dre] Greenlaw will continue to practice and [S Talanoa Hufanga] Huf, we plan on opening up his practice window here on Wednesday.”
As far as Talanoa goes, would he have to play with some sort of device or cast or support on his wrist?
“Yeah, he’s going to have to have something on it. He’s tried a few things out. I’m not exactly sure exactly what he’s going to have, but he’s going to have some things on it and see how that goes this week.”
Also, news came out about Trent Williams and his wife losing their children at birth. Is he going to take some time off for that as well?
“He did a little bit of that last week. Something that happened that last week and he was there at the hospital with her and got to meet him and say bye. And then he had to cremate him on Friday, so he’s been dealing with that and he’s working through it. But we’re all just trying to be here for him through it all.”
What went into the decision to make QB Joshua Dobbs the backup to QB Brock Purdy last night?
“Just the type of game that we thought it could be. We had a feeling all week, just looking at the forecast. We knew it would be more of a running game and we wanted that element added to it. We thought he could help in that way.”
As far as football goes, it seems like it’s just a common theme of self-inflicted mistakes that have been going on. I don’t know how you address that or how you change that. I know it’s different mistakes every week. How do you actually try to make those adjustments?
“When it’s different things, it’s not really just an adjustment that you make. You’ve got to keep coaching, you’ve got to keep challenging guys. If a guy continues to do the same mistakes, you’ve got to try to find a different guy to put in there. It’s all of the above. Stuff we’re continuing to work at, we obviously haven’t gotten it done.
“But not just one area in particular. We’ve got to work on getting more turnovers. Obviously, we’ve got to work on protecting the ball better, which came in three different ways. One on the goal line, one on a kick return, one on a slip ball throwing, which killed us there in the second half, similar to Green Bay. But it’s not one thing in particular. So a lot of things go into it.”
How do you process the real-life issues that you’ve had, with Trent and CB Charvarius ‘Mooney’ Ward, as a coach and as someone responsible for a team and get through that stuff with them?
“That’s stuff that we do every day. It’s not to the extreme. When you’ve got to deal with tragedies like this, it’s hard as a coach, it’s hard as a friend, it’s hard as a family member, it’s hard for everybody. But we spend a lot of time with each other and that’s what’s cool about a football team. Whatever you go through, the good or the bad, we go through it together.
“And I do like for those guys because I do like that they have this, they have a group of guys they can go to, a group of guys that could see them every day. And you can’t ever escape that full grief and stuff. But I do think it’s nice for those guys to have another avenue to get out on the football field, to get around teammates and things like that. I thought it was a huge step by Mooney this week, just from a personal level. No one really, when something like that happens, you don’t really want to jump back into anything.
“You’ve got to kind of make yourself. And I was real proud of him fighting through this week. And even though it was hard and I’m sure he didn’t always want to do it, but he got through the week of practice, got through the game and I think that was a real step for him just going forward with his life. And that’s the thing everybody’s got to do in those situations. But it’s nice when you have a football team and stuff, that you have a group of guys that you’re around every day and that you’re close with that can help you through it.”
It’s your understanding that Trent wants to get back out there when he’s healthy?
“Oh yeah, definitely. Trent’s really trying to get back out here. We’ve just got to, his ankle isn’t healing the way we want. We can’t get the swelling down and stuff, so that’s why I’d like to say it’s day-to-day, week-to-week, because we’re expecting the swelling to go down and everything, it just hasn’t. So we’re trying to be patient with it, I know he’s being patient with it. Hopefully it’ll take a turn in the right direction this week, but it hasn’t yet, so there’s no guarantees.”
When you look at all the issues with the team and how heavy this feels, all the different issues and the injuries, how do you keep everybody focused and at a level where they can compete on a field on a Sunday?
“You have to. That’s the challenge. Lots of things going on in life, but everybody does have a job to do and so you’ve got to respect those challenges. You’ve got to respect what people are going through, but you’ve got to also help pull people together to do their job. And we’re a team that counts on everybody, but I don’t think it’s much different in the business world either.
“People go through a lot of stuff, but whatever their line of work is, they still have a responsibility to do. We all understand that fully and how hard it can be on someone. And I do think in a sports atmosphere, in a team atmosphere, kind of like what I was saying earlier, it’s nice for those guys to have a team and stuff they can be around and not feel as alone. But that’s not going to, no one is going to judge your team off of that, they’re going to judge it off of wins and losses and those games come once a week.
“You’ve got to put your plan together, you’ve got to practice as hard as you can and you’ve got get 48 guys out there on the field, in uniform, that are going to help you win. Like with injuries, you can’t always count on everybody, whether it’s an injury or whether it’s something tragic that happened, people are going to go through some stuff and when that happens, we’ve got to another guy step it up.”
With how the defense has played, have you been pleased and satisfied with the way defensive coordinator Nick Sorensen’s been calling games?
“Yeah, I’m very satisfied with Nick. I’m not at all satisfied with the results and how it’s going right now. But, some of the mistakes that we’ve made, I don’t think or what’s happened here in these last two weeks, I don’t think that’s a schematic issue.
“It’s a little bit more of a fundamental issue. And that also starts with me. That goes to all coaching, and it goes down to the players, it goes to everyone in this building. But the results here these last two weeks haven’t changed my opinion on Nick.”
It was already a pretty trying season for Christian before this. We talked about the frustration. Have you had a chance to talk to him and just see where he is after the latest injury?
“No, I haven’t got a chance to talk to him. Just getting back at 5:30 in the morning last night and just getting all this stuff finished up here a little bit ago. I know he has been getting his MRIs and everything, so I’ll connect with him here this afternoon.
“But I just feel for him. It was a real frustrating year for him. He worked his butt off to get back to this point. I think he was really feeling good and about to take off and just had that real unfortunate injury last night. So, I know he’s as crushed as anyone, but he’ll get through this. He’s a hell of a player, hell of a person and an unbelievable 49er and he’ll be back stronger than ever next year to help us.”
Will Brock be limited in practice this week or is he full-go?
“No, Brock’s full-go. He didn’t even come in for rehab today, so Brock’s fine.”
How did you feel OL Ben Bartch played his first start with the 49ers?
“I was impressed by him. I know he’s got a lot of ability and stuff and we’ve enjoyed working with him here, but that was our first time going into a game with him. I loved how he competed. I thought he blocked well. I thought he helped us in that game. So it was a good first start for him.”
You said last night this team isn’t as good as some of the others, which by the record, yeah. Did you mean from like a talent perspective? Do you mean when you consider all the injuries and who is out there right now or can you provide just more context of what you meant?
“Well, I’m just answering a question. I got asked does this team not have the same fight as last year’s team? And everything goes to the team the year before. And I was just trying to imply this isn’t last year’s team. You wanted a reason for why our record isn’t as good as last year’s and when it’s asked about fighting and stuff, I don’t see it all that way.
“I was making the point that this isn’t last year’s team. Last year’s team was obviously a better team. I’m not saying just from the roster, I’m just saying from the beginning to end, the way we started out, the way we felt in training camp, throughout the whole year. We’ve been trying to build that with this team. We’ve had times where we felt that we were on the right path to it and then we’ve had some setbacks that I think it’s always been one step forward, two steps back. We really haven’t grasped the full potential of this year’s team. That’s why I don’t like comparing it to last year’s team or the year before.”
