San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan stepped up to the podium on Tuesday for his only media availability of the week before Thursday night's game against the Arizona Cardinals. He provided a few injury updates at the start of the press conference.
The bulk of the updates surrounded starting left tackle Joe Staley and his return from a fractured fibula suffered during Week 2. Shanahan believes there is "still a chance" Staley could play on Thursday, but he will likely be listed as "doubtful" for the game.
A return during Week 10 against the Seattle Seahawks seems more likely, and Shanahan feels very good about that new target date.
"Without us having a full-speed practice, it's going to be kind of tough to simulate some stuff here in this day and a half," Shanahan said. "So we'll see how he feels. I put him more in 'doubtful' whenever I have to do that, but there's still a chance."
The good news is that there have been no setbacks in Staley's recovery, who the coach initially hoped might return for Sunday's game against the Carolina Panthers.
"I think it was tough just not having full practice this week," Shanahan said. "I think if we did, then he would be a little more optimistic about it. I'm sure he could if we just committed to it, but it's pretty risky, and we don't put them through a bunch of stuff today and tomorrow. We weren't able to do enough last week, so all that stuff plays into it."
Shanahan said that if the 49ers had to play on Tuesday night, running back Matt Breida's (ankle) chances of playing wouldn't be good.
"Hopefully, he'll be ready to go (on Thursday)," Shanahan added.
Shanahan also said that running backs Breida and Raheem Mostert (knee, quadricep), fullback Kyle Juszczyk (knee), tackle Mike McGlinchey (knee), cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon (foot), and tight end Levine Toilolo (groin) wouldn't take part in Tuesday's late 5:20 p.m. practice.
Defensive end Dee Ford (quadricep) and tackle Justin Skule (knee, foot) will be limited.
Shanahan noted that a Week 10 return against the Seahawks remains the plan for Juszczyk and McGlinchey.
