© Tim Heitman | 2020 Dec 20
We’re just over a week away from the 49ers Week 1 matchup vs. the Lions, and Kyle Shanahan hopped on KNBR Thursday morning to provide the latest updates.
First, the obvious. Shanahan provided an update of sorts on Trey Lance, who chipped a bone on a finger on his throwing hand in last weekend’s preseason finale. Shanahan said Lance is still on pace to be available for practice next week and for San Francisco’s opener.
“Fingers do heal fast, we’re hoping that it’ll be good next week,” Shanahan said. “Seeing him yesterday and talking to him he’s very optimistic. He feels that he’ll definitely be ready, but as we all know there’s no guarantees. We’re going to take it slow. You don’t want to push a finger. You want to let that chip heal, which we think it can heal within these seven days and hopefully he’ll be throwing with us next week when we come back.”
And, no, Shanahan didn’t provide any clarity on the Week 1 starter, something he said he won’t do before the game. We’ll just have to see on Sunday.
We’ll also see on Sunday who the 49ers trot out as a punt returner. The conversation around that position has come to the forefront after San Francisco’s two favorites to win that job, Nsimba Webster and Travis Benjamin, were both claimed on waivers.
Shanahan did provide a bit of clarity on that topic, however, saying that Brandon Aiyuk could be put back there to return punts, something he did in college.
“I definitely think Aiyuk can do it and I have no problem putting a starting receiver back there. That’s never been a philosophy of mine and it hasn’t changed yet. So, I feel we got some guys on our team who can do it.”
Listen to the full interview below.