Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images
The San Francisco 49ers have one healthy quarterback. All of a sudden, they are down to absolute bare bones at the position.
On Sunday, Nick Mullens sustained an elbow injury in the waning minutes of the fourth quarter, and had to be pulled from the game. C.J. Beathard replaced him for a last-second Hail Mary touchdown to Kendrick Bourne which did not affect the result.
Kyle Shanahan confirmed on Tuesday that Mullens will likely need surgery on his elbow, and it could potentially be Tommy John surgery. More tests will be done once the swelling on his elbow subsides. His season and Raheem Mostert’s (ankle) are over, Shanahan said.
Richard Sherman, who has calf soreness, could also be out for the season.
To make matters worse, the practice squad quarterback, Josh Johnson, was placed on the Reserve/COVID-19 list along with wide receiver Kevin White on Tuesday, leaving Beathard as the only healthy quarterback on the active roster.
While the the team opened the practice window for Jimmy Garoppolo on Tuesday, Shanahan said he will not return. He said last week that Garoppolo’s recovery is about a week behind Kittle’s.
And Kittle? Well, he just might return this week.
The tight end practiced last week after having his window opened, and Shanahan said that while the team will be exceedingly cautious with him, he has a chance to play Saturday against the Cardinals. In Shanahan’s mind, if Kittle is healthy, how could he deny him and look the rest of the team in the eye?
“If he’s healthy, I just don’t see the reason why not to,” Shanahan said. “He had a good week of practice last week. Most of the soreness was going away… We’re going to be overly cautious with him and we have been. But if someone’s 100 percent healthy, I can’t look the rest of the team in the eye and tell them they have to play but George doesn’t.”
As for Garoppolo and Mullens and Johnson being out; what that means is the 49ers will try and sign a practice squad quarterback off another team’s roster. They can’t sign a free agent due to COVID-19 testing requirements, but the NFL this week adjusted its rules so that any player who is already in the league’s testing protocol does not need to test negative for a week in order.
The NFL informed clubs today that players who are current in the league’s COVID testing cadence will be permitted to join or try out for a new club without having to start a new six-day entry testing period, per source — a big deal as teams backfill roster holes down the stretch.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) December 19, 2020
But what happens if it gets even more dire? If Beathard and that practice squad quarterback get hurt or test positive for COVID-19?
We may get a Denver Broncos-Kendall Hinton situation, except with Jerick McKinnon at quarterback. Shanahan said a few weeks ago that McKinnon is the team’s preferred emergency quarterback, and Kyle Juszczyk is the backup emergency quarterback.
Juszczyk said Tuesday that every Friday, he and McKinnon meet with quarterback coach Shane Day and take a few quarterback reps. He joked that he’d have to convince Shanahan to play him over McKinnon by showing his his two wildcat plays in college.
“I’m gonna have to send him the two clips of me playing wildcat quarterback in college,” Juszczyk said.