San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch joined KNBR on Friday morning and confirmed that running back Jerick McKinnon will be out for the remainder of the preseason. He sustained a calf strain during a practice in Santa Clara this past Sunday.
The good news is that McKinnon's injury is not long-term and the 49ers are hopeful their starting running back will be ready to play against the Minnesota Vikings during Week 1.
McKinnon's injury, however, was just another to add to a long list from the 49ers' exhibition opener against the Dallas Cowboys last week — the most serious of which were to running back Matt Breida and tight end George Kittle, who both suffered separated shoulders. Neither is expected to be back until the start of the regular season.
Lynch remembers what it was like being at Levi's Stadium that night and watching player after player go down.
"I had to take a walk," Lynch said on the "Murph & Mac" show. "There were so many injuries against Dallas. I had to get out of the box I was in, just break up the mojo. I went over to see my wife and kids, and she said, 'Gosh, you look like you've just seen a ghost.' It was because guys were just dropping that night.
"The good news is, the following day, it was a little better outcome for each of these guys."
Linebacker Malcolm Smith, who is expected to start alongside second-year phenom Reuben Foster (or whoever starts in his place during his two-game suspension), suffered a hamstring injury early during the preseason game against Dallas. It was Smith's first time playing in front of the Levi's Stadium crowd. The veteran linebacker sustained a torn pectoral muscle during training camp last offseason and missed all of 2017.
"The good news was he felt it going and stopped right before it popped," Lynch said. "So he's another guy that we think will be ready for Week 1 but probably won't do much in the preseason."
You can listen to the entire interview with Lynch below.
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