Buried in Monday's injury updates from head coach Kyle Shanahan was an update on the San Francisco 49ers players on injured reserve. Each NFL team is allowed to activate two players per season off of injured reserve. San Francisco currently has four eligible, with varying odds for returns.
Below is a list of the 49ers players placed on injured reserve following August 31's 53-man roster cutdown. Any player placed on IR before then, like running back Jerick McKinnon, is ineligible to return this season.
- DL Kentavius Street (knee), Sep 1
- WR Trent Taylor (fractured foot), Sep 20
- WR Jalen Hurd (back), Oct 3
- CB Jason Verrett (knee), Oct 3
- LB Kwon Alexander (pectoral), Nov 5
- DE Ronald Blair (ACL), Nov 12
Only the first four players listed above are candidates to return. A player must remain on injured reserve for at least eight weeks before he can be activated. The injuries to the last two, Alexander and Blair, occurred too late in the season.
Shanahan hasn't sounded confident about the chances of Taylor or Hurd returning. The head coach has already said he doesn't expect Taylor to play this year. On Monday, Shanahan indicated that he was close to closing the book on Hurd's potential return.
That leaves Street and Verrett as the candidates to contribute this season. Of course, that will be dependent on the roster moving forward, and Shanahan is in no rush to make a decision just yet. Any future injuries could escalate a decision, though.
"They're guys that, regardless, even if those injuries don't happen, they're guys who we want to get back out there practicing," Shanahan told reporters, "guys that have worked to get back and we think will be healthy enough to, and we'll see if need be because of injuries. But if not, I'd like to give them a chance to at least get back out on the practice field."
The need may not be there now, but if it arises, Shanahan is confident in the recoveries that Street and Verrett have made.
"They're getting healthy," Shanahan continued. "I think both of them are going to have an opportunity to do that. It's not something we'd do right now, but definitely could be an option if we have any injuries at either of those positions."
Street underwent arthroscopic knee surgery in August. Verrett is dealing with a knee injury but was able to appear in one regular-season game, the 49ers' Week 3 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, before landing on injured reserve. He was returning from a torn Achilles suffered in August of 2018.
"I think he had gotten to a point where he was healthy," general manager John Lynch said in October, "but now you've got to push yourself to get back to those top speeds. He was struggling in doing that, and we felt like that was the best course of action with him. But very encouraged about the future with Jason."
Once the two defenders are allowed to practice, Shanahan and the 49ers will have three weeks to decide whether or not to activate them to the 53-player roster. The coach hopes to at least give them that shot before the end of the season.
"Just me thinking of it right now, the latest would probably be the 13th week or whether we call it the 14th week," Shanahan said, "whenever the last three games are would probably be the latest. If we lost someone at their specific spot, it'd probably speed that process up."