Santa Clara –
Wide receiver Deebo Samuel remains out with a foot injury, and cornerback Jason Verrett is sidelined due to a hamstring issue. Samuel has been ruled out for Sunday’s game against the Arizona Cardinals. Following his successful foot surgery in June, Samuel is expected to return in Week 2 or 3.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan addressed why Samuel wasn’t placed on the Injured Reserve (IR) list, a move that would have allowed him to practice before his return. This decision is particularly relevant with wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk also questionable for Sunday’s game due to a hamstring strain.
“We believed he had a good chance to play this week,” said Shanahan. “It didn’t go the way we hoped, but he’ll still be day-to-day going on that next week. We felt there was a chance, so to make a decision that would be three weeks when we thought he did have a chance. We didn’t think that would be very smart, but we’ll see how next week goes. Also, it’s something with the rules that because it happened before training camp started, which is considered non-football injury, there was some reason we couldn’t do that, either.”
Shanahan also discussed backup plans, including potential roster adjustments before tomorrow’s deadline to promote players from the practice squad. Additionally, center Ben Garland is listed as questionable for Sunday’s game due to an ankle injury.
“It’s some things we can discuss,” Shanahan said. “There’s always a possibility. With Garland and Aiyuk being questionable, we’ve got to be ready to do something depending on that. So, we’ll see how that goes. We do have until that time. It might take us all the way until game time to decide if they can go or not because they are that close to doing it.
They also have been prepared in camp and done enough stuff to be ready, which is a little different than how Deebo is. But we’ll see. If we know for sure that they’re not going earlier, we’ll probably have to do something. If we still won’t know, we might still have to do something. Just to have that just in case when it comes on Sunday.”
