The San Francisco 49ers released their first injury report of the week on Thursday, and there was one name noticeably absent — rookie defensive end Nick Bosa. In fact, it was the first time all season that Bosa's name has not appeared on a team-issued injury report.
The 49ers have to be happy about Bosa's improved health. The rookie has been dealing with the lasting symptoms of the high-ankle sprain he suffered early in training camp, the same injury that kept him out of the preseason.
Bosa has managed to play in each of San Francisco's three wins and has impressed despite not being 100 percent healthy. He only has one sack this season but leads the team with 17 quarterback pressures on 68 pass-rush snaps, according to Pro Football Focus, and leads the league in pass-rushing productivity, also per the analytics site.
While many might have viewed the 49ers' early bye week as an unfortunate situation forced on the team by NFL schedule-makers, Bosa saw it as an opportunity to rest and recover.
"I'm definitely going to take full advantage of this time off," Bosa said last week, "and hopefully, my ankle will be an afterthought after this week."
Head coach Kyle Shanahan discussed Bosa this week via a conference call with Cleveland-area reporters.
"Anybody with a high ankle sprain, it kind of lingers a little bit," Shanahan said via Cleveland.com. "It has lingered on him the first three weeks, but even while doing that, he's still been able to play in all three games and definitely affect the quarterback. He hasn't been able to get them down as much as he'd like, but he's definitely done a good job of getting to them. Especially getting this (past) week off, I hope his ankle is feeling even better this week."
General manager John Lynch joined KNBR on Thursday and discussed his first-year pass rusher.
"I think he'll continue to get therapy and rehab on that," Lynch said on the "Tolbert, Krueger and Brooks" show. "I know Nick has been walking around with a smile on his face because I think he feels a lot more like himself, and I think that's a really good thing.
"He's a great kid. He stuck around here the entire bye week (while) everybody was taking off, and that's a good thing to do whenever you get that bye week. He knew this was his opportunity to get as healthy as possible. I think he made great strides on that.
"Is [the ankle injury] completely behind (him)? I sure hope so. You can't count on that, but I know he's doing a lot better, and that's a good thing because he looked pretty darn good with that ankle hurting."
Following the injury, Bosa pushed himself to be ready for Week 1 and each game that followed. Maybe he is finally getting close to the point where he doesn't need to worry about his ankle anymore.
"It's obviously something that nags a little bit," Bosa said last week, "and you feel it out there, but I've been able to push through it and help the team, and we're 3-0, so it worked out well."
A healthy Bosa is good news for the 49ers in case the team's other offseason pass-rushing acquisition, Dee Ford, is unable to go on Monday night against the Cleveland Browns. He's dealing with the return of his knee tendinitis and a quadricep injury.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan said Ford is unlikely to practice until Saturday.
"I mean, [his injury is] definitely improving," Shanahan said on Thursday, "but we're not going to put him out there today, and we'll see day-to-day with that. Really hoping to have him Monday night, but he'll be questionable all week."
Lynch hopes Ford's discomfort isn't something that hinders him all season and noted that the 49ers are taking precautions to make sure the pass rusher is available to them for the remaining games.
"Dee's doing well," Lynch said. "He really is. This bye came probably -- all our guys who weren't healthy were probably helped by it, but Dee Ford as much as anybody.
"We're very hopeful that he can come back and play at a high level. When he's been out there, he's been exactly what we thought he'd be.
"We've had to limit his snaps a little, and that's frustrating to Dee. And [being limited] is probably more from our part than him asking to come off. We're trying to get him through an entire season because when he is out there, he's so impactful for us."
You can listen to the entire conversation with Lynch below.
