Plus, Kyle Shanahan laid out the plan for Talanoa Hufanga
Talanoa Hufanga was activated at Wednesday’s practice for the San Francisco 49ers. Kyle Shanahan laid out the plan for Hufanga in the coming weeks:
“It’ll be good to get him in practice today. He’ll go out there and be in individual and stuff. We won’t throw him in against anybody. He’ll be able to do all of the drills on air with other players and coaches for the first time. We’ll probably do the same thing tomorrow and then evaluate next week. I think Tuesday is the first day whether we want to get him in there and going against anyone.”
John Lynch on Talanoa Hufanga: “Gonna be judicious. Gonna be smart. He’s done a fabulous job with his rehab. Today’s a big step. We’ll get him back at practice. Will he be ready for Week 1? Not sure. It’s gonna be tight. We expect him somewhere early in the season.”
That does not sound like a player who will be ready for Week 1, which means we could see George Odum get a start against Aaron Rodgers and the New York Jets.
As for Elijah Mitchell, he has some of the worst injury luck known to man. Shanahan said Mitchell’s hamstring injury got worse, and the doctor suggested he should have season-ending surgery. It’s an injury that Mitchell re-aggravated on Monday.
Speaking of running back injuries, Isaac Guerendo tweaked his groin injury on Monday. Shanahan said the 49ers are hoping to have him back next week. If he is back, Guerendo “has a chance” to be the starting kick returner. Jacob Cowing is filling in for Guerendo as the kick returner in his absence.
Aaron Banks will return next Tuesday after missing most of this past month with a broken pinky.
The following players did not practice on Wednesday:
Brandon Aiyuk
Jauan Jennings (oblique)
Christian McCaffrey (calf)
Guerendo (groin)
Banks (pinky)
Yetur Gross-Matos (knee)
Dee Winters (ankle)