John Lynch: We’re hopeful Arik Armstead can return for the playoffs

49ers veteran defensive tackle Arik Armstead has missed the last four games with foot and knee injuries.But with San Francisco owning the NFC's only first-round playoff bye, Armstead may be able to be back on the field the next time the 49ers play a meaningful game.That's according to General Manager John Lynch, who talked about Armstead in his Friday interview with KNBR's "Murph and Markus" show."That's our hope," Lynch said, via David Bonilla of 49erswebzone.com. "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."Armstead has played 12 games this year, recording 27 total tackles with 5.0 sacks,...