San Francisco 49ers rookie linebacker Reuben Foster briefly left Wednesday's practice after suffering what appeared to be an ankle injury. It was the team's final full practice before it flies to Kansas City for Friday night's exhibition matchup against the Chiefs. The second of two first-round picks in April, Foster had his ankle re-taped and returned to team drills before sitting out at the end.
It turns out, Foster has been dealing with a minor ankle injury in recent days, according to head coach Kyle Shanahan, who joined KNBR's "Murph & Mac" show on Thursday.
"Reuben should be good to go, but he has been battling that," Shanahan said. "It hasn't been a big enough thing to keep him out of practice. But each day you can see there's some time in practice that he trips it up, steps on it, or rolls it a little bit, it definitely affects him to a degree. But he's a tough guy. He can play through this stuff. It's something we don't feel is going to get any worse.
"We've got a lot of guys sore right now. It's that time in training camp. We tried to take the pads off yesterday. Today's going to be a complete walkthrough. Then they're going to have all day, afternoon, to get ready for that game. After our game, the day after a game, we don't do anything, which would be Saturday. We'll just come out and condition them a little bit. We don't do anything as far as practicing against each other. Sunday will be another recovery day for the players."
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Shanahan went on to say that the 49ers will have two practices on their own next week and then two joint-practices with the Denver Broncos leading into their preseason matchup at Levi's Stadium next weekend. Training camp breaks for the 49ers on Thursday, August 17.
"You kind of have an idea of how this is going to be in camp," Shanahan continued. "I think we hit our toughest stretch at the end of last week. This week they were starting to get back. Hopefully, they'll be better for tomorrow night and I think we'll even be fresher next week come Denver."
You can listen to the entire interview with Shanahan on KNBR.
The injury appears to be a minor one given that Foster has been a full participant in practices and has not appeared in injury reports. "Didn't appear serious," said Joe Fann of 49ers.com following Foster's exit from Wednesday's practice. "Felt more cautionary."
Foster is expected to play and start at the Will linebacker spot for the 49ers on Friday against the Chiefs.