San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan spoke with reporters via a conference call on Monday, two days after his team knocked off the Green Bay Packers to advance to the NFC Championship Game against the Los Angeles Rams. He provided several injury updates from Saturday night's game.
LT Trent Williams
Reporters saw Williams using crutches after the game. He played in all but one offensive snap against the Packers but was seen limping to the sideline at one point late in the game. Williams underwent X-rays on Sunday, which didn't show a fracture.
Shanahan said Williams is dealing with a right ankle sprain and has a chance to play this weekend against the Rams. The coach isn't sure if it is a high-ankle sprain or a low one, and the team will re-evaluate his status this week and try to manage his workload.
"His X-rays were negative," Shanahan said. "Similar to what we dealt with last week with Jordan [Willis]. Just some old stuff in there too. I'm not exactly sure on him, but we'll have to manage him, see how this week goes throughout the week."
The coach was referring to the team thinking Jordan Willis was dealing with a high-ankle sprain last week. That ended up not being the case. Willis played on Saturday night and blocked a punt that was returned for a game-tying touchdown.
Added Shanahan: "You can't designate [whether it was a high- or low-ankle sprain]. You've got to see how the week goes, whether it heals. If it was a high, then I'd rule him out. But there are more components to it, which make it not as easy as Jeff's (Wilson, see below), which was like Jordan's last week. So, you're just got to wait before you declare what it is. You've got to see how it heals and reacts throughout the week. So, that's about all I can say, and that's what we'll be waiting on to find out."
WR Deebo Samuel
Samuel also fought through the game, going down once in the third quarter after being tackled by Packers linebacker Krys Barnes but remaining in the game. He appeared to suffer a second injury late in the fourth quarter.
"Deebo, he took a helmet to the side of his knee/leg on that last play," Shanahan said, "so he's sore today. We expect to see him on the practice field this week."
RB Jeff Wilson Jr.
Early in the game, Wilson was carted to the locker room and ruled out due to an ankle injury. Shanahan said Wilson is also dealing with an ankle sprain but has a chance to play on Sunday.
"It ended up not being high (high-ankle sprain)," Shanahan said, "so we'll see how this week goes, [but he's] got a chance."
Thomas was inactive against the Packers due to a bone bruise in his knee. He is doing "better" this week and has a better chance of returning this weekend.
"We were hoping he was going to be close [to playing against the Packers], but by the time he got there, we could tell there was no point in working him out," Shanahan said. "So it ended up not being as close as we hoped for. We know he's doing better today compared to how he was on Sunday, and I think he has a much better chance of playing this week. Hopefully, he's ready for practice on Wednesday."
