Arik Armstead has missed the last four games. The San Francisco 49ers' defensive tackle has been working through lingering foot and knee injuries, attempting to return to the football field. With the 49ers securing the top seed in the NFC and home-field advantage, rushing the veteran defender back before the playoffs is unnecessary.
General manager John Lynch joined Bay Area radio station KNBR on Friday morning and was asked if the 49ers expect to have Armstead back for the postseason.
"That's our hope," Lynch said on the "Murph and Markus" show. "The one seed, when you talk about what it means, it means some extra time for a guy like Arik, who's been working through some foot and knee injuries and making a great deal of progress. But this just gives him a little extra time.
"And it's been killing Arik. He wants to be out there for his team, but this extra time just allows him more opportunity to heal up, and Arik's a big part of what we do. So he's working hard. We expect to have him for the playoffs. We hope to. I don't know about 'expect to' because you always have to hit these markers, and we'll turn up the intensity of his training as we get closer. And he's doing real well."
Lynch was also asked about wide receiver Jauan Jennings, who has been working through the concussion protocol since sustaining the injury on December 17.
"Jauan's in the concussion protocol, and I think, wisely so, we're instructed by the league not to really get into the details of that because it is a protocol, and it really takes it out of our hands," Lynch said. "So there's steps he has to hit. He hasn't hit those yet. Kyle mentioned that we thought progress was being made, but for the league, for coming up, and they put a lot of time into coming up with a protocol that makes sure guys are ready when they return to play, and he's in that."
Lynch added, "He's a big part of what we do, but we're not going to put him out there, nor will the protocol allow for it, until he's ready."
You can listen to the entire conversation with Lynch below.