On Thursday night, San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch broke the news on KNBR that wide receiver Pierre Garçon is going to be placed on injured reserve with a neck injury he sustained on Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Lynch, reading off of a note, described the injury as a "non-displaced fracture of the right C5 pedicle."
Not only is the news devastating to the 49ers and their fans, but the timing of the injury could not have been worse as far as finding alternatives to fill Garçon's role.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan joined the "Murph & Mac" show on KNBR Friday morning and explained why the timing of the injury leaves the 49ers with limited options.
"We're going to have to get something going," Shanahan said. "It was really unfortunate what happened to Pierre. Finding that out late Wednesday night, the day after the trade deadline, makes you a little limited on what you can do. If you want to sign someone, you've got to take someone off other people's practice squads or you've got to take someone who's not on a team right now. That's not a bunch of huge options, especially with that trade deadline ending.
"It's something we've got to deal with. It was pretty hard to hear. Spent the night pretty upset about it. Woke up the next morning and it's time to move on. You've got to deal with it, embrace it, and someone's got to step up and we've got to work to help everyone else out because we're not going to find a guy to replace Pierre."
Garçon, who has proven to be a reliable receiver, was a good safety net for rookie quarterback C.J. Beathard. Beathard has completed 12 passes for 121 yards to Garçon over the last three games. Through eight games, the 10-year veteran leads the 49ers with 40 receptions for 500 yards. He would have been a good asset for newly acquired quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo once he is familiar enough with the offense to get onto the playing field.
"Pierre was one of our best players and probably our best player on offense and there isn't a guy out there that you can just replace him with," Shanahan continued. "So, we're going to have to have some guys step it up and do it by committee."
