Armstead broke his hand during the first quarter of a Week 6 matchup against the Washington Redskins and was placed on injured reserve on October 17.
Some fans questioned Armstead's toughness, feeling the third-year player could have played with a cast over the injured hand if he really wanted to. Armstead defended his toughness on Twitter, saying he would have played with a cast if it were an option. Team doctors determined it wasn't an option with the type of injury he suffered.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan and defensive coordinator Robert Saleh also came to their player's defense regarding the injury.
"Arik played a quarter-and-a-half (against Washington) with that broken hand," Saleh told reporters last week. "He's a tough son of a B. He is. He's tough and I will never question that man's toughness. If he could have played with a club, he would have played with a club. If he can play with one hand, he'll play with one hand."
"He really wanted to play with a cast," Shanahan said on KNBR last week. "I know he's done it before in college and I was hoping he could and our doctors. The type of break he had, a cast doesn't do anything for it. I'm not exactly sure the medical terms but he broke his hand and his knuckle went down into his hand so it's something that a cast could not protect.
"I heard people were questioning his toughness with it, which it was exactly the opposite. He broke his hand in the first quarter, played the whole first half. You can see on tape, he's playing with his hand flopping around."
Armstead is unlikely to be one of the two players who the 49ers bring back from injured reserve, according to Shanahan. The team is hoping to eventually bring defensive linemen Ronald Blair and Tank Carradine off of injured reserve.
Armstead was the 17th-overall selection by the 49ers in the 2015 NFL Draft. He started all six games this season and had 16 total tackles, 1.5 sacks, and a pass defensed. Over his three seasons with the 49ers, Armstead has 50 total tackles, six sacks, and a pass defensed.
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