San Francisco 49ers safety Jimmie Ward did not play a single snap during the team's preseason. He spent all of training camp on the physically-unable-to-perform list, which means that he has had little opportunity to get work in while preparing for the regular season. Ward is slated to be the 49ers' starting free safety and was slated as such in the team's unofficial depth chart, which was released on Tuesday.
As he has been since returning from the injury designation, 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan revealed that Ward will be limited in practice on Wednesday.
"He's limited," Shanahan told the media. "That's what he'll be today. We'll see what he is the next day. Once he can string together a few good days in a row, then we'll feel better about putting him in the game."
Shanahan was asked if Ward would participate in team drills on Wednesday. Being limited usually means that a player will not. However, the 49ers head coach did not totally dismiss the possibility of Ward participating.
"He's limited so we'll see," Shanahan said.
Ward was placed on the PUP list on July 28 with a hamstring injury as training camp kicked off. On August 25, Shanahan explained that the team wants to be careful and smart while bringing players like Ward back from injury.
"Anytime you're dealing with a hamstring, it can seem 98-percent and you go out and just do one quick reactionary move and then you lose a guy for another month," Shanahan said. "Jimmie's done a real good job in the practices. He's done a real good job. I do feel if we were going against Carolina, he'd be ready to go but we are definitely going to be smart with him too and wait until he's 100-percent."
The game against the Carolina Panthers quickly approaches so it will be determined soon whether or not Ward is ready to go for the 49ers' regular season debut.
Another player who will be limited during practice is rookie tight end George Kittle, who aggravated the hamstring injury that he had during training camp. He did not play during the 49ers' preseason finale last Thursday against the Los Angeles Chargers.
Kittle was also listed as a starter on Tuesday's unofficial depth chart. Shanahan was asked if Kittle was the 49ers' starting tight end.
"That will be on situations," Shanahan said. "Down and distance, how healthy he is. He's another guy that will be limited today. We've got three guys on our roster so we'll see how that plays out throughout the week. We won't really know that until Sunday."