The San Francisco 49ers hope that defensive ends Leonard Floyd and Yetur Gross-Matos will be healthy enough to play in the season opener after both players left the last exhibition game with sprained knees.
Coach Kyle Shanahan said on Sunday that Floyd is day to day after getting injured Friday night against the Las Vegas Raiders, and Gross-Matos is week to week.
Shanahan mentioned that there are no plans to place Gross-Matos on injured reserve, and he might return to practice in about a week. San Francisco’s season opener is on September 9 against the New York Jets.
“We’ll see how this week goes and hopefully he’ll have a chance to get back to practice next week for Week 1,” Shanahan said. “We haven’t even mentioned anything about IR.”
San Francisco has already lost defensive end Drake Jackson for the season due to a setback in his recovery from a knee injury that ended his 2023 season early.
The Niners have limited depth behind Nick Bosa, Floyd, and Gross-Matos, with second-year players Robert Beal Jr. and Alex Barrett as the most likely replacements.
The only other injury news from Friday night’s game involved ankle injuries to safety George Odom and linebacker Dee Winters. Odom rolled his ankle before the game and was limping during the opening kick, so he did not play the rest of the game.
Shanahan said Odom should be fine to practice on Monday. Shanahan added that the team will have a better understanding of the extent of Winters’ injury when MRI results are available on Monday.
Shanahan also said that the team is still unsure about the plan for safety Talanoa Hufanga, who is recovering from a torn ACL last November.
Hufanga, an All-Pro in 2022, may either return to practice on Wednesday or start the season on the physically unable to perform list, which would mean missing at least the first four games.
