Kyle Shanahan will have to figure out a contingency plan after the San Francisco 49ers lost another starter to injury on Sunday. The 49ers blew out the New England Patriots in a 37-13 contest, but they lost defensive lineman Jordan Elliott in the process.
The 49ers defense didn’t have too much trouble despite Elliott getting hurt early on in the game. But what his knee injury represents is that the 49ers have a serious injury issue with the interior defensive line. After already losing Javon Hargrave for the season, Elliott going out means the team is extremely thin at DT.
Maliek Collins and Kevin Givens lead the way on the left side, but Hargrave and Elliott are the first two names on the depth chart for the right side. Now, San Francisco has neither and is essentially down to just Evan Anderson at that spot.
While San Francisco is now back to .500 after the Week 4 win, they will be waiting to see about Elliott’s condition with bated breath. For a team that is aiming for a deep playoff run, the current situation at DT is untenable.
Kyle Shanahan Spoke About Plan to Address Hargrave Injury
Coming into Week 4, the 49ers were already considering their options to reinforce the DT spot. Shanahan noted that there are practice squad players who can make the jump, but also confirmed that San Francisco would look at options outside of the organization.
“We’re still working through that,” Shanahan said. “We’ve got a couple guys on practice squad that we’ll most likely bring up. We’ve got some outside guys who are good inside rushers, as far as pass downs and things like that. But, we will always look out at what’s available out there. But usually you go to your practice squad. And hope to get [DL] Kalia Davis back soon too, which would help. Not this week, I don’t think, but hopefully soon.”
Davis returning will help, but the 49ers are far from sturdy even with his arrival. Instead of having a proven veteran like Hargrave and a talented backup in Elliott, they will be depending heavily on players that were, initially, third or fourth names on the depth chart.
Deebo Samuel Returns from Injury
Speaking of injuries, there was doubt that WR Deebo Samuel would make it onto the field for the Patriots game. However, Samuel was good enough to go after recovering from a calf issue and showed up with a huge play.
After New England had scored 10 unanswered points to make it a 10-point game, Purdy found Deebo for a 53-yard gain to reignite the offense.
That’s the kind of explosive play that 49ers fans are used to seeing from Samuel. However, his overall production was limited in the game.
Other than the 53-yard catch, Samuel totaled 5 yards on his two other catches while also running twice for 14 yards. He was a focal point of the offense, but part of his lack of production is also due to the 49ers’ success running the ball through RB Jordan Mason, who racked up 123 yards and a touchdown on 24 touches.
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