Summertime strains: 49ers' fast-paced practices taking a toll on the roster (2024)

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — A San Francisco 49ers roster eaten by injuries got a few bodies back for Monday’s practice. But the team also received more bad news.

Defensive tackle Kalia Davis, one of the standouts in Saturday’s preseason game at the Tennessee Titans, emerged from the contest with a surprise knee injury, one that requires surgery and will cause him to miss roughly half the season.

Davis recorded San Francisco’s only sack and had two other hits in the backfield against the Titans.

“I thought it was one of his best games,” Kyle Shanahan said. “It was really unfortunate. He played awesome throughout the whole game. That’s why he, and us, were real surprised that he had such a tough injury.”

Davis and cornerback Ambry Thomas, who broke his forearm in the game, will have surgery this week.

Those injuries were part of the reason the 49ers scuttled plans to scrimmage against the New Orleans Saints in Southern California later this week. Shanahan’s arranged a summertime joint practice every year he’s been in San Francisco and he’s said he values them more than the preseason games.

But he said Monday his teams never had them when he was with Washington, Cleveland and Atlanta and that it didn’t make sense with 20 or so players watching from the sideline. He said the 49ers also wouldn’t try to set up a scrimmage with the Las Vegas Raiders before their Aug. 23 preseason game because of the tight turnaround from the Saints game five days earlier.

“It’s not something that you have to do,” he said of joint practices. “We did one once in Houston, I believe. I just think it breaks up the monotony of camp, but we can generate that stuff ourselves. Sometimes it’s nice to go against different schemes, but it all changes once the year starts anyway.”

He also noted that though the team has had a high volume of injuries, most have been muscle strains — especially hamstring issues — that keep players out weeks, not months. Young, offensive skill position players seem to have been hit the hardest with rookies Ricky Pearsall, Jacob Cowing and Isaac Guerendo dealing with hamstring issues at various points this summer.

The only two receivers who have taken part in every training camp practice are Ronnie Bell and Trent Taylor. Deebo Samuel Sr. and Chris Conley also have avoided injury, though they have gotten so-called “rest” days this summer.

Conley, who played for four other teams before arriving in San Francisco last season, said practices are faster and more intense here. The idea is that the 49ers build up a “callus” that helps them during the season.

“Some of those (younger) guys have to learn what that means and learn how to get warm and stay loose and be ready,” Conley said. “But obviously, you see some of the veteran guys who have been through that. They understand what it takes and they get ready early.”

When Shanahan first became a coach in the early 2000s, teams still had two-a-day sessions in the summer. And players didn’t get a day off after every three days of practice like they do now.

Shanahan noted, however, that additional rest means players are going faster, which leads to some of the issues the team is dealing with.

“Sometimes when we used to go two practices a day, everyone was so tired and slow, it was harder to get hurt because no one could move that fast,” he said. “We’ve been on both sides, and I definitely like the way it is now. It’s smarter now, but there’s some give and take with everything.”

Odds and ends

• Others who missed Monday’s practice included a trio of guards: Jon Feliciano (knee), Spencer Burford (broken hand) and Ben Bartch (unknown). Shanahan said Feliciano’s knee soreness will keep him out of practice this week, which means rookie Dominick Puni will continue to work with the starters.

“He’s been good since his first snap,” Shanahan said of Puni. “So it hasn’t seemed too big for him. He’s gotten better each day in practice. And when you see that, you really want to see how it is in the game and see if anything changes. He looked the same in the game as in practice. So we’re excited about that.”

Tight end Brayden Willis (soreness), running back Christian McCaffrey (calf), Guerendo (hamstring), running back Patrick Taylor Jr. (unknown), receiver Pearsall (shoulder), cornerback Isaac Yiadom (ankle) and defensive end Sam Okuayinonu (unknown) also missed practice.

Safety George Odum, meanwhile, was excused to attend the birth of his child. Rookie Jaylen Mahoney and newcomer Tracy Walker III filled in at safety with the first-team defense.

Shanahan said safety Talanoa Hufanga (ACL) will meet with his orthopedic surgeon Thursday. If the meeting goes well, the 49ers will start easing Hufanga back into practices later this month.

• The 49ers did have some returnees Monday, including middle linebacker Fred Warner, who was his usual, vocal self. Others back in the mix included defensive tackle Jordan Elliott, linebacker Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles, cornerback Darrell Luter Jr., Cowing and receiver Danny Gray.

• Because the second- and third-team units played the bulk of Saturday’s game, the 49ers’ first-teamers took all of the snaps in Monday’s session. That led to a lot of action for quarterback Brock Purdy and George Kittle. Purdy targeted his tight end eight times with only two incompletions, one coming when Kittle was knocked out of bounds by cornerback Charvarius Ward on a throw at the sideline.

Purdy finished 9-of-15 in the non-padded practice, including drops by Cowing and Gray. He also was targeting Cowing on a deep pass near the goal line on the final throw of practice. The pass seemed like it might go for a touchdown, but cornerback Deommodore Lenoir timed his jump perfectly and came down with an interception.

Lenoir had a strong spring session, and he might have been the most consistently good player in training camp as well.

• The 49ers signed wide receiver Robbie Chosen, formerly known as Robbie Anderson, on Monday and placed receiver Frank Darby (hamstring) on the reserve/injured list.

Chosen, 31, has been in the league since 2016 with his best season coming in 2020 when he had 1,096 yards for the Carolina Panthers. He appeared in nine games last season for the Miami Dolphins, whose offense is similar to San Francisco’s.

Shanahan said he’s always admired Chosen’s speed.

“I always thought he played physical, ran his routes very well,” he said. “When you’re a very good go runner, streak runner but also can run a slant, it’s a problem.”

Robbie Chosen (no. 7) takes his first reps for the 49ers. Chosen, 31, played nine games in Miami last year, so he’s familiar with SF’s system. pic.twitter.com/aBXZnVxTnp

— Matt Barrows (@mattbarrows) August 13, 2024

(Photo of Kalia Davis: Steve Roberts / USA Today)

Matt Barrows is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the 49ers. He joined The Athletic in 2018 and has covered the 49ers since 2003. He was a reporter with The Sacramento Bee for 19 years, four of them as a Metro reporter. Before that he spent two years in South Carolina with The Hilton Head Island Packet. Follow Matt on Twitter @MattBarrows