San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan is clearly tired of hearing about injuries. He saw 28 of his players land on injured reserve last season. Monday morning's team-issued pre-practice injury report included 17 names. Jerick McKinnon and Matt Breida, who are the team's top two running backs, were on that list and won't practice this week.
Shanahan knows injuries are a part of the game. He made it clear on Monday that the only way to prevent injuries is to keep players from playing or practicing. Shanahan decided to sarcastically (but humorously) explain how injuries can be avoided.
"(George) Kittle falling on his arm awkwardly and separating his shoulder, that could be prevented by not having him run the route," Shanahan said. "Guys getting concussions in games could be prevented from them not tackling people, I guess."
Shanahan's point was obvious. Injuries are a part of the game, and there is no way to avoid them entirely. The head coach was then asked specifically about the soft tissue injuries.
"They can be prevented by having them not doing anything and sit there and just not get hurt and then it will happen in Week 1," Shanahan said.
Well played, Kyle. Well played.
Second-year receiver Trent Taylor is working his way back from offseason back surgery. He did not play last week in the exhibition opener against the Dallas Cowboys but has been practicing with his teammates. Taylor knows training camp practices are a grind. Bumps and bruises are expected.
"Everybody's bruised up, banged up right now," second-year wide receiver Trent Taylor said last week, "so I think I'm just kind of feeling the camp soreness right now, just like everybody else is."
When you add preseason games to the offseason schedule, injuries become inevitable. Luckily for the 49ers, none of the injuries sustained during last Thursday night's game appear to be long-term.
Shanahan noted that if he were to ask his players who is feeling tight at this point in training camp, he would likely see 90 players raise their hands.
"The last thing I want to do is a player who knows it's tighter than usual, and he's about to do something, to go in," Shanahan said. "It's the responsibility of his position coach to know that, our trainer to know that, myself to know that, and the player to know that. That's why guys have to communicate. But, you've got a lot of guys who say, 'Oh, we can go out if we're tight.' Now 30 of them are out, and you've got 10 guys who are battling, and those guys get hurt.
"It's football. It's everywhere around the league. It's camp. You've got to work hard to prepare hard, and I think, for the most part, most of our injuries are something that are extremely hard to control."