San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan had already said on KNBR Thursday morning that rookie Nick Bosa is not expected to play during the preseason. The defensive end suffered an ankle injury during Wednesday's practice.
While the hope is that Bosa will be healthy by Week 1 of the regular season, the possibility of that not being the case remains.
"The last thing he wants to do is get hurt," Shanahan told reporters after Thursday's practice. "He's trying to go out there and play with it. He wants to come back tomorrow. But he had an over 300-pound man land on his leg, and it was very fortunate that we didn't lose him for the year."
Shanahan provided an update on Jason Verrett, as well. The cornerback also suffered a similar ankle injury during the same practice. He is on the same timeline as Bosa, will miss the entire preseason, and then be re-evaluated after that.
Verrett was competing for the starting job opposite Richard Sherman before the injury.
"Fortunately for Jason, he's played football," Shanahan said when asked about evaluating the cornerback. "Everyone studied him coming out of college. Everyone knows the ability that he has. It's one (injury) that we can be more patient with.
"We know the football player he is. We've seen the guy since he's been here. He's as good of a guy and as good of a competitor that I've been around. We've got ultimate trust in him."
Like Bosa's injury, the 49ers initially feared that Verrett's was more severe than it ended up being.
"At the end of the day, it ended up being better news than we anticipated," Shanahan added.
Running back Jerick McKinnon was taken off the team's Active/Physically Unable to Perform list this week. While he practiced on Tuesday and Wednesday, he was nowhere to be seen during Thursday's session.
Shanahan told reporters that McKinnon was feeling some soreness in his knee and will receive platelet-rich plasma injections. That will shut him down for at least a couple of weeks. Shanahan didn't want to speculate if McKinnon might start the regular season on injured reserve, and perhaps come back later (each NFL team is allowed to take two players off IR), but anything is an option.
"If he's ready (for Week 1), that will be great," Shanahan said. "If not, we'll be patient with him, let him come back, and expect one of our other guys to step up."
Cornerback K'Waun Williams recently had his knee scoped. He is unlikely to play during the preseason and might not be ready by the regular-season opener, said Shanahan.
The 49ers also have center Weston Richburg and tight end Garrett Celek remaining on the PUP list.
Other Injury Updates
- Defensive lineman Arik Armstead is day-to-day with a calf injury.
- Defensive lineman Ronald Blair is day-to-day with a groin injury.
