49ers face nervous wait on Leonard Floyd and Yetur Gross-Matos injuries following preseason finale

The San Francisco 49ers played a lot of their starters in Friday's preseason finale with the Las Vegas Raiders and now face a nervous wait after seeing two important players go down with injuries on successive plays.

Defensive ends Yetur Gross-Matos and Leonard Floyd, signed this offseason as free agents to bolster their outside pass rush, each went down with knee injuries and did not return to the game.

Floyd, who is expected to start across from Nick Bosa at the defensive end spot, returned to the sideline and was later seen smiling while talking with head coach Kyle Shanahan.

Gross-Matos has flashed his pass-rush upside during a strong preseason and is slated to have a rotational role in which he rushes from the inside as well as off the edge. He was not seen to return to the sideline.

Speaking in his post-game press conference, Shanahan confirmed Floyd and Gross-Matos had suffered knee sprains and will have MRI scans on their injuries. Encouragingly, he clarified that neither had suffered any ACL damage.

Still, while Floyd and Gross-Matos appear to have each avoided serious injury, they may now both face a race against time to be ready for the 49ers' Week 1 game with the New York Jets on September 9.

And the 49ers don't have a great deal of options if Floyd and Gross-Matos aren't ready. Drake Jackson has already been ruled out for the year because of the knee injury he sustained last season, while last year's fifth-round pick Robert Beal Jr. hasn't stood out consistently in preseason.

Last season, the 49ers struggled to get consistent edge pass rush across from Bosa, who endured something of a down year by his standards with 10.5 sacks. Floyd and Gross-Matos were acquired with a view towards solving that issue but, depending on the severity, their injuries risk the outside pass rush remaining a problem to start 2024.

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