Earlier this week, Matt Barrows of The Athletic broke the news that San Francisco 49ers running backs coach Bobby Turner would take 2022 off due to surgery.
"No word on whether Turner is retiring," Barrows reported. "However, he's not expected to be SF's RBs coach in 2022. He missed the 2014 season after having surgery on his knees. He's having something similar this year."
On Wednesday, general manager John Lynch spoke with the media via a press conference at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. After that, he sat down with Bay Area reporters to further discuss 49ers-related topics.
Lynch confirmed that Turner was taking a year off.
"Bobby Turner, 49ers running backs coach, will indeed take 2022 off because he had a couple of knee surgeries," reported David Lombardi of The Athletic. "But Bobby Turner is fully expecting to return in 2023 to be the running backs coach of the 49ers."
Lombardi adds that former Chargers head coach Anthony Lynn, recently hired by the 49ers as the assistant head coach, will help work with the running backs in Turner's absence.
"Bobby makes it very clear that he's coming back and we make it very clear that he's always welcome," Lynch said via Lombardi. "He had a couple surgeries, he had one last year and felt rushed with the rehab and wants to take care of it."
Turner, 72, has been the 49ers running backs coach since Kyle Shanahan was hired to be the head coach. Turner has spent the past 27 years coaching NFL running backs, also coaching with the Denver Broncos, Washington Commanders, and Atlanta Falcons. He helped the Broncos to two Super Bowl championships.
The 49ers ranked seventh in the NFL with 2,166 rushing yards. The team's 22 rushing touchdowns were tied for the fifth-most in the league.
