San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan spoke with reporters after Friday's practice as the team prepares for its Week 3 matchup against the Arizona Cardinals.
Here's everything he said.
Transcript provided by the San Francisco 49ers Communications staff.
Opening comments:
"For the game, we've got [DL] James Thompson [Jr.], ankle, will be out. [WR] Demarcus Robinson, ankle, out. [DL] Romello Height, hand, out. [DL Nick] Bosa, calf, out. [WR] Mike Evans, questionable. Go ahead."
Does this feel like Groundhog Day?
"With what?"
Just the injuries early in the season. It's just a slew of injuries.
"Yeah, losing Bosa was rough yesterday. Losing six out of the 10 D-Linemen in the last two weeks that have made our team is a little unusual. I don't think I've been a part of that, so that has been different."
Can you clarify when Nick got hurt and how it happened?
"He does his warm-up deal right before walk-through. He does his own warm-up there on the side and just got his calf doing it."
That was yesterday?
"Yeah, right before practice."
Have you spoken to him? How is he taking all this?
"I haven't talked to him directly. I know he's bummed out, but he'll be back."
How long do you think? Are we looking at a couple of weeks or is this months?
"I mean, we can't say exactly, but I'm guessing around a few weeks."
Is there any fear that this could affect him long-term?
"No."
How does this impact the IR list? Do you think about putting him on IR?
"It's a discussion. I mean, he's right there at that point, along with a couple other guys that are all in the same boat. Because of the number we have on it, we won't be able to do all of them. So, we've got to decide and we're just trying to guess which ones will go longer, which ones have the chances of being sooner. It's just a guess. They're all really in the same boat, so we've got to decide that by tomorrow at one."
I'm guessing that has to be uncomfortable. You'd like to rather know as opposed to just guess.
"Yeah, that's our whole world, though. Everything's an educated guess, but everyone's kind of in the same boat on that."
Earlier this week, president of football operations and general manager John Lynch admitted it's been a pretty trying time with all the injuries to the D-Line. How have you dealt with all this just given you guys are always in some type of injury headline and all the substation theories? Does it ever come to a point where you're like, can we catch a break?
"I've felt sorry for myself a number of times, but I think you just waste time doing that. You get used to just dealing with it. Lots of people have to go through stuff in this league all the time, some worse than others. I know we haven't had good luck these last couple of years. It started out bad, so hopefully we're getting it out of the way and it'll get better as the year goes. I'm happy that we haven't lost those guys for the whole year, but you just plug away and look on to the next challenge."
When you consider that Bosa got hurt in a practice technically, like DL Alfred Collins, practice and DL Sam Okuayinonu, practice, does that force you guys to reevaluate at all the way that you're conducting practices or do you think those are all just freak injuries?
"He got hurt warming up on his own doing high knees and stuff, so no, don't evaluate practice."
I know you're always trying to achieve balance, but when you lose a player of Bosa's stature, does it make you want to play more complementary football that much more?
"I think I want to do that as much as I possibly can. So it's hard to say I'd like to do anything more. But, I do understand the challenge, not just of losing Bosa, but the number of guys there in these two weeks. That will be a challenge on everyone else. We've got some new guys in here who will have to step up. They've done good in practice this week. But, I'm excited about our whole team, even with the setback of the D-line."
You mentioned the other day you want to see how practice goes before deciding who you go with off the practice squad for D-tackle. How did that play out this week?
"It went good. We've probably made our decision, but won't announce it publicly."
I think you have six healthy defensive linemen. You can elevate two, obviously, gives you eight. Is that enough or do you have to have guys have different roles on Sunday to help out with the defensive line rotation?
"No, we'll get enough D-Linemen up."
Was Mike Evans able to practice today?
"Yes."
Full or limited?
"I don't think we have to give that designation today."
Injury aside, what has he meant to this offense with his experience and his ability?
"Just having a great player who's got the experience that he has has been awesome. We've had two games with him and both of those games we didn't really get full games, just the way they went. We were done in the fourth quarter, so we haven't got a ton of playing time with him. I know he was out this whole week until today, but Mike's been everything as advertised as a person and a player. Pumped to have him as a Niner."
How many times did you replay his catch, the 27-yarder to the one-yard line? What did you talk to the team about it in the highlights meeting?
"We actually didn't have one on Monday. I just showed it to them this morning. We were going through the whole game and it was just cool. Just the way he set his angle, it was very easy to read on where he was going, which I think made it easier for [QB] Brock [Purdy] to make an almost impossible throw. It just was a throw that he could have no room for error or the guy would have undercut it. I think Mike set the angle well and Brock threw a dime. I still think Mike may have gotten in."
How's WR Brandin Cooks looking and how quickly is he picking up your offense?
"He's picked it up great. Had a great week. He's a pro. He's been around the offense to a degree. There's still words that are different and stuff, but you can tell he's got an understanding and picks it up as fast as anyone could."
What's your evaluation of WR Jordan Watkins? What does he need to do to make that next step?
"He's going to have an opportunity now. I think he's gotten a lot better in a lot of facets. I think him not being up these last couple games has been more because of special teams than a receiver deal. If it was just off receiver base and things like that, I think he would have got up Week One, but you've got to balance all that stuff out and he's been fighting to get up. I remember him talking to me about it last week, ways he could get up, and he got an injury to D-Rob which gives him an opportunity and it's an opportunity I think he's ready for."
Obviously, the front matters a lot to your cornerbacks. What is it about CB Renardo Green that makes you feel good about his ability to battle even if you don't get the rush you want?
"I just love how Renardo's been playing. I've said this before, it's not that he's just had two good weeks. He's had a good 2026 since the first day we saw him in the offseason up to the present. He's been unbelievable. Just his focus, his work ethic, his preparation. He's obviously a real talented guy, but none of the stuff he's doing right now surprises us just because of how he's looked since day one of this year and expect to continue."
You mentioned Watkins came to you?
"Yes."
Was it just like, how do I improve? What am I not doing type thing?
"Yeah."
Is that unusual or not?
"No, guys do that a lot. Not all the time, but guys who aren't up who want to get up. He's working. You can ask your position coaches, you can ask coordinators and sometimes they come to me to ask, so that was cool."
Back to Bosa, his strained calf, do you know if it's on the right leg or the same leg that was injured from last year? And if so, do you think that's maybe a carryover?
"No, I don't know which leg. I don't know."
Have you gotten a sense of just how the team is handling the Bosa news?
"I know everyone's down when anyone gets hurt. They're definitely down when a guy like Bosa gets hurt. It happened in our walk-through. By the time we got to practice, guys are moving around and you don't hear people talking. This is football, so guys, I think, are used to it a lot. I think it's different when guys have a real bad injury where you know you've lost him for the year, but it was unfortunate. Guys were down for him, but it's nothing you would have noticed if you were out there or anything like that."
More info on: Nick Bosa, Alfred Collins, Brandin Cooks, Mike Evans, Renardo Green, Romello Height, Sam Okuayinonu, Brock Purdy, Demarcus Robinson, James Thompson, Jordan Watkins
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