The interior lynchpins of the 49ers’ defensive line aren’t likely to suit up this Sunday.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan joined Murph & Mac on Friday morning to discuss all things 49ers and provided some less than rose-tinted updates on Arik Armstead and Javon Kinlaw.
Armstead played for much of the first half against the Rams before being ruled out with a foot/ankle injury, while Kinlaw, dealing with issues after last year’s knee reconstruction, missed out entirely.
Shanahan said Armstead has been ruled out and that his injury status — initially described by Armstead as plantar fasciitis, and later revealed to also be an ankle issue — is now a situation on both feet.
Here’s Shanahan on the severity of the situation:
“We’ll see. It’s week-to-week with him right now. But any time we don’t have Arik, we’re concerned. He had something that was bothering him. He got a new thing on a different foot last week that made it a little bit worse and we got to take it a little slower this week.”
With Kinlaw, it’s a similar situation.
“Odds are he’s not going to be able to go either,” Shanahan said. He hasn’t talked to team trainers yet, but Kinlaw hasn’t practiced this week, so it seems a fairly straightforward decision.
There doesn’t appear to be too much certainty with Kinlaw’s situation.
“You’re always concerned, especially when something’s been lingering a little bit,” Shanahan said. “But I’m also not a doctor so I don’t sit there and try to worry about it too much. I just go with what they say. When they say they gotta see how it reacts week to week and there’s not surgery or anything like that, which makes you feel good, but you got to just see how it reacts and we thought it would react better earlier in the week. Still not there yet.”
Despite missing both Armstead and Kinlaw, the 49ers’ defense continued to play at a league-best level last Sunday. They’ll face a struggling Carolina Panthers offense on Sunday.
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