San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch joined KNBR this morning and provided several injury updates. Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo has practiced this week — albeit limited. He is returning from a calf injury that forced him to miss the second half of Week 4 and all of Week 5.
"Jimmy's doing really well," Lynch said on the Murph & Mac show. "He's done a great job coming back from that calf contusion that he got versus Seattle. And he did a nice job of rehab, and he stuck around the bye week, as did Trey because they were both hurting."
Trey Lance, the 49ers' No. 3 overall pick in this year's draft, started in place of Garoppolo during Week 5 and emerged with a knee sprain. He has not practiced this week and is not expected to suit up against the Indianapolis Colts this weekend. That means Nate Sudfeld will likely serve as Garoppolo's backup.
"But Jimmy's practiced well," Lynch added. "And I don't know about [him being] 100 percent, very few people are 100 percent at this point in an NFL season, but Jimmy's doing very well and has practiced at a high level. ... Really happy that Jimmy's coming back, and Trey's on a really good course. We'll see next week where he's at, but Trey's healing at a good rate right now."
The question is whether or not the 49ers will have Pro Bowl tackle Trent Williams blocking for Garoppolo on Sunday night. The veteran offensive lineman has missed the last two practices due to an ankle sprain and is considered "day-to-day."
"He did that in the Arizona game," head coach Kyle Shanahan said on Thursday, "and he was working on it the week away, and he dinged it a little bit on Monday. He got to come out to practice on Monday and do stuff, but he dinged it, and that's why he wasn't able to go [Wednesday], wasn't able to go [Thursday]. Hopefully, he'll be able to get out there [on Friday] because we definitely want him there on Sunday."
Lynch didn't sound too confident about Williams' chances of being out on the field on Sunday.
"I think it truly is a questionable thing," Lynch said. "I think it speaks to Trent's toughness that he never missed a snap against Arizona. He played throughout that game and came out with both a tweak to his elbow and to his ankle. And it persisted throughout the bye week. The bye week helped him, but he's not there yet.
"Trent is a tremendously tough individual, aside from being as skilled as he is. And so, he wants, in the worst way, to play on Sunday, and we still have some time. He's not there yet, though. He hasn't practiced yet. He's done some things to the side. He's still working through it. So I think it truly is a questionable situation."
Rookie Jaylon Moore is a candidate to start at left tackle if Williams cannot go on Sunday. Lynch named Tom Compton as an option too.
The 49ers general manager also discussed the team's running backs at length. He believes San Francisco has been efficiently running the football but acknowledged that the group has lacked explosiveness. Much of that has to do with the loss of Raheem Mostert for the season.
"I think Elijah Mitchell and Trey Sermon are perfectly capable of that," Lynch said. "[JaMycal] Hasty has had a good week of practice, still questionable for Sunday. If he can make it through today, we feel good about his ability to come and add.
"Jeff Wilson is really coming on [with] his [recovery]. He won't be ready this week but in the near future, some weeks down the line, will come in and bolster us.
"We're starting to get healthy there, and we need to because that is the foundation of our offense. And not only do we need to run it efficiently and effectively, we need to start being a little more explosive in our run game. That's important for us."
Will Wilson be able to return from his knee injury this season and contribute?
"Yes," Lynch responded. "Like I said, it's not in the next couple of weeks, but kind of beyond that. He's doing really well. He's had some real positive breakthroughs here in the last couple of weeks in his recovery."
Lynch also addressed this week's report from Josina Anderson that the 49ers had inquired about Colts running back Marlon Mack. Lynch said he is good friends with Colts general manager Chris Ballard, and the 49ers were just doing their due diligence with the situation. It doesn't sound like the conversations evolved into much else.
You can listen to the entire conversation with Lynch below.
