San Francisco 49ers head coach Chip Kelly met with the media today and indicated that it was unlikely that starting running back Carlos Hyde would play on Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Hyde missed practice on Tuesday and walked onto the practice field with his right arm in a sling. Kelly said that Hyde would miss practice today as well.
"We'll monitor him during the week, but I think he would be a stretch to play this week," Kelly said today.
"It's a day-to-day thing," Kelly said of the shoulder injury to Hyde. "He's not going to go today [in practice], so I don't know – I would imagine if he's not going to go in the next couple of days, he's not going to be ready to play on Sunday."
The injury occurred during the third quarter of Sunday's 49ers 45-16 loss to the Buffalo Bills. Mike Davis replaced Hyde while the 49ers' starting running back was on the sideline. Davis and Shaun Draughn are the only other running backs on the team's 53-man roster.
"If Carlos can't go, you'll see both those guys," Kelly said of Davis and Draughn.
The 49ers do have two running backs on the practice squad in DuJuan Harris and rookie Kelvin Taylor. "Kelvin's done a nice job," Kelly said today. "Like any young player, first year in the league, there's a learning curve that goes on. Especially with running backs transitioning from the college level to the NFL with just protection."
Kelly went on to state that the protection schemes in the NFL are more "intricate" and that there are more of them. "That was the big thing coming out of camp," Kelly said. "Just more consistent in the pass pro[tection] pick up and things like that, but he's done a nice job. He's really – when you watch him as a scout player – really embraced that role and done a good job of imitating the good backs that we've had an opportunity to face in the last couple of games."
"(DuJuan Harris is) another guy that's shown some things from a practice standpoint to try to really find out who that number two guy is behind Carlos," head coach Chip Kelly said on Monday.
Kelly stated that they would like to have three running backs available for Sunday's game. That means that they would need to promote someone like Harris from the practice squad. However, Kelly said that they will wait to see what happens in practice this week.
Hyde has 429 yards on 109 carries and six touchdowns so far this season. He has averaged 3.9 yards per carry.
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