If you’re checking 49ers news and looking for something to ease your feeling that this team is without direction, confidence, or optimism, well, you are decidedly in the wrong place.
Kyle Shanahan’s Monday press conference was another post-loss platter of desolation; more injuries, more confounding personnel decisions and another “it starts with me”-type quote that rung hollow.
Josh Norman sticks around
When Josh Norman lost his mind on Sunday towards the end of the first half, costing the 49ers time, and putting the Cardinals in an advantageous field goal position, there was some question as to whether he’d be cut.
Norman was benched for the rest of the game for Dre Kirkpatrick, and has had some egregious, poor moments this season, especially with some pass interference issues.
His display on Sunday, in which he was yelling at Tavon Wilson, before Azeez Al-Shaair seemed able to calm him down, was his worst moment of the season.
Still, Kyle Shanahan said Monday that not only will the 49ers keep Norman, but he wanted him to return to the game on Sunday.
“No, I actually I did not want him benched the whole game for that reason,” Shanahan said. “I wanted him out of there to cool down so I was totally cool with that. Came back in the third quarter and I noticed Dre was still out there, I asked if that was because of the same thing. And they just kept going with Dre which I’m okay with them making that decision. And Josh has made some mistakes and stuff this year. I also like that he’s caused some turnovers and stuff and I like the way that he plays but they wanted to roll with Dre and I fully supported for that second half.
Shanahan simultaneously said he supported the defensive coaching staff’s decision to bench Norman, but that he disagreed with it.
Rookie expectations
The 49ers drafted eight rookies. Just two of them — Elijah Mitchell and Talanoa Hufanga — played on offense or defense on Sunday. Three of them — Aaron Banks, Trey Sermon and Deommodore Lenoir — were inactive. Trey Lance continues to watch from the sidelines, and has not played since his first career start against the Cardinals a month ago.
Shanahan was asked about his expectations for the rookies entering this season. He said the 49ers, “had a feeling it was gonna be that with our quarterback.”
He gave a very long answer breaking down his expectations for the rookies at each position. Here are the bulletpoints:
- All rookies: Shanahan said the 49ers weren’t trying to find starters at any position, at least for this season: “Our biggest thing with all those positions, whether it was running back in the third, corner in the third and the fifth and guard in the second, those are all positions we were very thin at. Now we had guys there that were starters. We weren’t drafting a hole to replace a starter.”whether it was at guard or whether it was at corner or whether it was at back.
- Aaron Banks: Shanahan thought he’d “have a chance to push Brunskill and Laken” but that his shoulder injury in training camp set him back significantly. He added that his last two weeks have been his best and that, “he’s starting to push [Brunskill] a little bit.”
- Ambry Thomas, Deommodore Lenoir: The 49ers felt “very good” about their corner stack of Jason Verrett, K’Waun Williams and Emmanuel Moseley despite the high likelihood there would be injuries at that position. The team knew it needed depth behind them. Shanahan said he felt too much asked of the rookies too soon, despite what seemed like solid performances from Lenoir, who hasn’t seen the field on defense since the second game of the season.
“Unfortunately, having some of the injuries we had early, we needed them earlier than we thought we would,” Shanahan said. “And unfortunately they weren’t totally ready for it. Yeah, I wish they were, but third-round pick and a fifth-round pick, they weren’t. And that’s why we’ve gone with veterans instead of them, trying to get them some time to get to where they need to be.”
- Trey Sermon: Shanahan indicated it’s nothing personal with Sermon… he’s just the worse running back on the roster and it’s fairly clear.
“I wouldn’t to say it’s anything against Trey Sermon, but we felt better with Elijah. Elijah had a strong camp, ended up beating Trey out and that’s why he got that role,” Shanahan said. “Trey got some opportunities when other people got injured, but right now, Jeff Wilson’s back healthy, and Elijah is healthy.
And those are our two starting backs right now with Trey being third. And unfortunately Hasty’s has been our third-down back and done the stuff in the pass game, so he’s kind of been the odd man out, which is tough on him. It doesn’t mean that we don’t believe in him, he’s just not ahead of those other guys right now in terms of running the ball on first and second down.”
More injuries
The 49ers’ injury list continued to get longer on Monday, and there may not be a choice to play some of those rookie corners given what’s at hand at this point.
Shanahan confirmed that Mike McGlinchey will need season-ending surgery for his torn quad, and listed off the following injuries:
- Mohamed Sanu suffered a knee sprain and won’t be back “anytime soon”
- Tavon Wilson sustained a foot injury and will “most likely” goin on injured reserve
- Norman sustained a rib injury and will be limited this week
- Dre Kirkpatrick had an ankle sprain and is day to day
He also confirmed that wide receiver Jalen Hurd (knee) is not expected to return this season, while Tarvarius Moore (Achilles) has an outside chance to return in December, but that’s not a recent repot.
This means that San Francisco is now down five safeties, with Jimmie Ward potentially back this week. Practice squad veteran Tony Jefferson is in line to play if he can’t go:
- Jimmie Ward (quad) – could return this week, unclear
- Jaquiski Tartt (knee, bone bruise) – on IR
- Tarvarius Moore (Achilles) – on PUP
- Tavon Wilson (foot) – headed to IR
- Kai Nacua (hamstring) – practice squad IR