San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan jumped on a conference call with reporters on Monday, a day after the team's 13-0 win over the New Orleans Saints. He provided several injury updates from the game.
Running back Elijah Mitchell suffered an MCL sprain in his left knee. The team initially thought it wasn't as severe as the MCL sprain he suffered in his right knee during Week 1, forcing him to miss seven games. The 49ers believed he might miss two or three weeks. That isn't the case, though.
"It wasn't the news we were looking for," Shanahan said. "He'll be out longer than that. Most likely six to eight weeks."
Mitchell will likely land back on the injured reserve list. Shanahan said the team hopes he can return sometime during the playoffs. The injury occurred on the first offensive play of the second half. Mitchell remained in the game, hoping the injury wasn't too bad, before realizing he couldn't keep going.
"He's pretty disappointed," Shanahan shared. "Everyone knows how good Elijah's been, how hard he worked to get back from his last one, how good he's been playing since he came back, and to kind of be right back there, I know he was real down on it. It's unfortunate for him. He's just had some real bad luck. You see the hit that it happened on, again, he got rolled up on, and it was just a bad position for him to be in."
Another Niners running back, Christian McCaffrey, is dealing with "some knee irritation."
"We'll manage him throughout the week," Shanahan said, not sounding too concerned about the injury.
Guard Spencer Burford suffered an ankle sprain. However, it wasn't too severe.
"Hopefully, we'll get him back later in the week," Shanahan noted.
The 49ers coach added that quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo didn't have any lingering issues from the hit he took to the knee from Saints defensive lineman Malcolm Roach.
"I know he's pretty sore today and stuff, so hopefully, he'll work that out by Wednesday," Shanahan said. "But nothing serious."
