Santa Clara – The news of Nick Bosa’s injury against the Arizona Cardinals was a devastating blow for the 49ers. Head coach Kyle Shanahan confirmed today what many had already feared after Bosa was ruled out of yesterday’s game, exiting early in the first half and not returning.
“I talked to Nick last night,” Shanahan said. “You know, it wasn’t confirmed until this morning. I haven’t been able to see him yet today, but talked to him last night, he had a pretty good idea of what we were going to find out today. But obviously he is bummed out and down, but Nick can handle anything and he is going to handle it like he always does, which will be great. But obviously he was bummed out from it not being able to finish out this year, and especially how good of a year he was having so far. And Yetur has been out there the last three weeks, so hopefully as he keeps going and doesn’t have any setbacks, hopefully he can continue to progress with that and handle more reps. But, we’ve got to see how that goes.”
Nick Bosa has suffered a torn ACL in his right knee, the same injury that sidelined him for the 2020 season. The 49ers continue to be hit hard by injuries this year. Defensive lineman C.J. West will undergo thumb surgery on Tuesday, while Mac Jones (knee) and Mykel Williams (wrist) are considered day-to-day. Quarterback Brock Purdy remains out with a toe injury, tight end George Kittle is expected to miss up to four weeks with a hamstring injury, and wide receiver Jauan Jennings is also listed as day-to-day with shoulder and ankle injuries.
Shanahan Fields Questions on Bosa, Purdy Injuries:
What goes into picking up the pieces and moving on after something like this with Bosa?
“Nothing in particular. You don’t just replace a guy like Nick. It just puts, you know, everyone’s got to continue to get better at everything. It’s the same thing I’d be preaching if we did have Nick too. When you lose your better players, it gets harder, but I also expect throughout this year all of our players to get better as it goes. That’s stressed even that much more when you lose a great one like Nick. Lots of guys obviously will have to step it up as it goes, but I believe that’ll be more by committee than any individual.”
Will you be looking at trade options?
“We’ll look at trades like we always do. But, there’s got to be trade options that make sense for you and another team, but you can’t just do that stuff just to do it.”
Did Nick explain to you how the injury happened? Whether the knee actually was impacted? It looked like he was double teamed, but like the leg just swayed out wide.
“No, he didn’t explain it to me. It’s just how those things happen a lot, especially with ACLs. They happen on air the majority of the time. I know it was his right leg, and he just got it caught right there and went right away. A guy who’s done it two times before, he was pretty confident that he did it. You could tell walking on the field, seeing his face and I could tell talking to him last night just how sure he was of it and knowing his body, then an MRI confirmed it this morning.”
What are your expectations for QB Brock Purdy this week?
“Expect him to get back in practice this week. So hopefully, we’ll see how it is on Wednesday. I don’t know whether he’ll have limitations or not, but I expect him to get back out there and get some stuff in and we’ll see on Wednesday how much he’s able to do.”
Was there anything else with Bosa’s knee? Like meniscus, MCL, any other additional factors?
“I was told it’s as clean as it gets, so in terms of if you have an ACL, I was told that it’s the kind that you want.”
You can’t replace Nick Bosa, but does it give you some hope with the progress that Mykel Williams has been making and the rest of the young defensive linemen?
“Yeah, I mean I thought that was crucial with Nick. We needed guys to step it up to play along with Nick, and now that he’s out, you need them that much more. But I had definitely been happy with those guys. I think they’ve done better each week. I thought Mykel had a really good game yesterday. I think [DL Bryce] Huff’s done some real good things, [DL] Sam O [Okuayinonu], all our edge players I think have been contributing and hopefully they continue to get better throughout this year.”
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