Sorry if you've heard this one before, but the San Francisco 49ers are dealing with injuries, a lot of injuries.
Kyle Shanahan has had to overcome a lot of injury adversity during his tenure as head coach of the 49ers. One of the small mercies of the Niners' current rash of injuries is that they are hitting early.
San Francisco had 23 players missing from their last practice before Saturday's preseason opener with the Tennessee Titans and limited a padless practice on Monday to the first-stringers they had available. They canceled this week's scheduled joint practices with the New Orleans Saints due to the extensive nature of their injury list.
Another silver lining of the injuries, however, is the benefit of the additional reps for draft picks who have found themselves playing more than they might have done otherwise.
Second-round cornerback Renardo Green played 61 defensive snaps on Saturday. Green is in a position battle for the third cornerback spot with Isaac Yiadom, a free agent coming off a quietly excellent 2023 season with the Saints. Yiadom has enjoyed a strong training camp but joined the injury list when he rolled his ankle in a walkthrough before the Titans game.
Yiadom is "a couple weeks away", in the words of Shanahan during his press conference on Monday.
While the circumstances of his injury encapsulate the 49ers' misfortune during training camp, Yiadom being sidelined gives Green more chances to vindicate San Francisco's belief in him. Green worked at outside corner and in the slot against the Titans following the 49ers' surprising decision to try him at both spots during the offseason workout program and training camp. The former Florida State defender was almost exclusively an outside corner in college.
The rookie for whom injuries to others have been the most fortuitous is third-round pick Dominick Puni, who has taken the vast majority of first-team reps at right guard with Spencer Burford suffering a broken hand and Jon Feliciano dealing with what Shanahan described as "knee irritation".
In their absence, Puni appears primed to emerge as a long-term solution at a longtime problem position. He has received widespread praise for his performances in camp and was faultless against the Titans.
Puni did not allow a single pressure and helped spring Jordan Mason for a rushing touchdown on the game's opening drive, his efforts in pulling around the formation particularly commendable for a player whose weakness coming out of Kansas was run blocking.
Asked if the door was open for Puni to claim the starting job with Burford and Feliciano out, Shanahan replied: "Yeah, definitely. Anytime somebody gets starter reps, it’s always open.
"You don’t just give it away and stuff, but it’s always an opportunity. People get opportunities and you see how they take advantage of it. He’s doing a hell of a job so far."
Offensive line coach and run game coordinator Chris Foerster recently said Puni has been better than they anticipated, an assessment with which Shanahan concurred.
"Definitely. We were excited about him right away, but when you lose the two guys in front of him who both started a lot of games last year, a guy gets thrown in there before you want to throw them in there," added Shanahan.
"Sometimes that can make guys better, but sometimes when they get put in a position that they aren’t quite ready for you get overwhelmed and it takes you a while to kind of get that confidence back. He’s been good since his first snap. So it hasn’t seemed too big for him.
"He’s gotten better each day in practice. And when you see that, you really want to see how it is in the game and see if anything changes. He looked the same in the game as practice. So we’re excited about that.”
The 49ers would much rather be in a position where they could have joint practices with the Saints, but the injuries are giving two players they clearly view as potential key pieces for the future the seasoning they need to make a more immediate impact. As a result, the Niners could emerge from this latest injury crisis a better team and better placed to continue to contend in years to come.
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