The San Francisco 49ers have been plagued with injuries to key players this season. Christian McCaffrey, Jauan Jennings, Brandon Aiyuk, Elijah Mitchell, Jon Feliciano, Yetur Gross-Matos, Talanoa Hufanga, and Javon Hargrave are among the players who have sustained injuries and have missed time for the defending NFC Champions in 2024. That does not include Dre Greenlaw, whose injury occurred while returning to the field during the Super Bowl.
But the 49ers expect to start getting some of those players back. Some, like Aiyuk, Hargrave, and Mitchell, are out for the season. Still, others could work their way back as soon as after the bye week.
According to Andy Lindquist of NBC Sports Bay Area, GM John Lynch recently sat down with Greg Papa on "49ers Game Plan" and discussed Greenlaw's potential return and how important he is to the team.
"Well, he's getting closer," Lynch said. "Dre is a tone-setter in every respect of that label. I think that's probably the most positive compliment I can give someone. Dre, his physicality with which he plays, his speech with which he plays, his mind. He diagnoses things really quick and he goes at gets it. He's a sure tackle in space. So much of today's football is played in space. And Dre, he just eliminates people and options with how fast he plays. When you have him and Fred [Warner] out there together it's a lethal combination.
"Dre has done the work, and that's a tough injury to come back from. He's getting better each week, he's going to continue to go [when he can return] I don't know but we're continuing to be encouraged with his progress and we don't think it's far off from when he's back helping us. We're really excited for that time."
On Friday, Lynch gave an update on McCaffrey, saying, "We'll simulate a game week in terms of volume as much as possible, and provided there's no setbacks, we're hoping to have him back on Monday in practice. And that's just opening his window. Does that mean playing vs. Tampa? No. We'll see where that goes.
"And like I said, you need to build volume up, because you don't just need to run without pain, you've got to be able to handle the rigors," Lynch added. "And that's the hard thing, on IR you can't go have somebody simulate [Buccaneers defensive tackle] Vita Vea tackling you ... so you try and simulate it as much as you can and you hope there's no setbacks. The good news is, to this point, there haven't been any."
Like Greenlaw, McCaffrey has not played this season. The reigning Offensive Player of the Year is dealing with Achilles tendonitis. The 49ers will be cautious with him to try and avoid an Achilles rupture. Without McCaffrey, the 49ers red zone offense has not been as efficient as in 2023.
Lynch also sounds optimistic that Jake Moody could potentially return after the bye week. The second-year kicker has missed the last three games with a high-ankle sprain. Moody was injured while making a tackle on a kick return.
"There's a chance," Lynch said. "He's doing really well. It's kind of a nebulous injury with a high-ankle sprain, we've had a lot of those but never with a kicker. So, we've consulted with soccer clubs, Leeds, we have that relationship. We talked to people over there asking what we can expect [a recovery]. Hopefully, we don't need [Moody] covering kicks anymore. But we need him to be able to kick, Jake is a huge asset to this team."
The 49ers,4-4, are off this week but will resume next week in preparation for a trip to Tampa to face the Buccaneers.