Fans only saw glimpses of Adrian Colbert on special teams during this past Sunday's loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. That's because D.J. Reed started at free safety for the San Francisco 49ers. Colbert had been limited with a hip injury during the week leading up to the game, giving Reed most of the practice reps.
"We wanted to go with the healthier guy," Shanahan said on Sunday.
Colbert is expected to be healthier and more prepared for this weekend's game against the Arizona Cardinals. While Shanahan stressed that whoever has the better week of practice will get the nod on Sunday, the coaching staff will favor Colbert because of his experience. Colbert is a second-year player with nine NFL starts while Reed is a rookie whose first start came this past Sunday against the Chargers.
"We would always lean towards Colbert because it was his job to start with and he played at an extremely high level last year and started out this year doing that," Shanahan told reporters on Wednesday. "(He's) been playing banged up for a while, gave him a chance to get healthier last week. I believe he's going to be much healthier this week so I'd be surprised if he wasn't out there."
The 49ers kick off their first practice of the week on Wednesday with two more coming over the next two days. Shanahan should have a better idea of Colbert's availability against the Cardinals by Friday afternoon when the team issues its weekly game status and injury report.
Colbert has 11 combined tackles through three starts this season.
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