On Tuesday, the San Francisco 49ers re-signed WR DeAndre Smelter, this time to the team's practice squad. Smelter had been released in early September when the team was trimming down to their 53-man roster. Head coach Chip Kelly spoke to the media today about Smelter when asked how he has looked.
"Just seen him for two days," Kelly said. "It's good to see him back out there running around. Obviously, even through OTAs he seemed to have something. So, it was you'd have him for a couple days and then he'd be out for a couple days or not 100-percent for a couple of days. So, the biggest thing with DeAndre is are we going to get a healthy DeAndre and that's what we're looking for. But, for two days so far he's looked solid."
Kelly indicated that the injury that made him miss so much time before he was released was a hamstring injury. However, the injury was not tied to the torn ACL that he suffered in college. "I don't know how the hamstring happened, but the injury itself was a hamstring. It had nothing, there was no knee issue and it was a pretty, whatever the grades are, grade two or grade three, it was a legitimate torn hamstring. It wasn't one of those you know he's out for a week or two as an extensive, obviously, just look at when we released him, waived him injured and then brought him back, I know it was a pretty severe hamstring injury."
Kelly was asked if Smelter had shown them enough during the offseason for them to say that, if available, they would bring him back later. "No, I would say the other way," Kelly answered. "We didn't see it, really didn't get a chance to see him so that's what we really wanted to be able to do. It was one of those deals is that you never saw enough of him to really make an accurate decision on, 'Hey, can he really contribute and help? So, let's give him an opportunity when he's healthy.'
"Again, when you have the injury that he had with his hamstring, and it was legit, got an MRI. It was a real serious hamstring injury. You feel bad for the player because he's put so much time and invested so much time coming in and being on IR the first year and getting ready to show us what he can do but then really didn't have a chance to show us what he can do. I don't think he played. Did he play in a preseason game? I don't think he played. I think he was hurt. It happened before our first preseason game, so we never really got a chance to see him in action."
Kelly was also asked about CB Will Redmond, who returned to practice this week after being on the Injured Reserve list. Kelly was asked how he has looked this week. "One day. He looked OK," Kelly answered. "I didn't, he's over with the scout squad, running around just kind of getting his feet wet. He looks like he's moving better than when we saw him last in the preseason. But, he's looked OK."
Rashard Robinson returns to practice
CB Rashard Robinson, who suffered a concussion against the Buffalo Bills, returned to practice today for the 49ers. He participated in a blue no-contact jersey. Robinson is currently in the league mandated concussion protocol this week but looks like he is on pace to play against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday.
CB Jimmie Ward returned to practice this week as well after missing three games with a quadricep injury.
