49ers notebook: Shanahan names Mullens starter; Kittle, others ruled out vs. Giants
Kyle Shanahan on Friday confirmed the expected. Nick Mullens will be the 49ers’ starting quarterback against the New York Giants on Sunday.
The decision was a relatively easy one as Jimmy Garoppolo missed practice all week after suffering a high ankle sprain to his right push off leg in the first quarter of last week’s win over the Jets.
What won’t be easy is beating the Giants with a downtrodden supporting cast. Tight end George Kittle was ruled out after returning to practice this week following a Week 1 knee sprain. Additionally, running backs Raheem Mostert and Tevin Coleman, the team’s two leaders in rushing attempts through two games, were ruled out with knee injuries.
Shanahan indicated in a KNBR radio appearance earlier in the day Kittle would be a game-time decision on Sunday. He was limited participant in practice all three days this week, but the team decided to play it safe with the All Pro, particularly playing on the artificial surface at MetLife Stadium that’s become a hot-button topic over the past week.
Shanahan said he spoke with Kittle before Friday’s practice and that conversation spurred the decision to let him sit for a second straight game.
“Me just talking with Kittle, kind of seeing where he was at, we felt it was a lot safer to leave him out,” Shanahan said on Zoom. “So that didn’t need to wait another day because of how he sounded today.”
At running back, the 49ers are expected to promote undrafted rookie JaMycal Hasty from the practice squad on Saturday. Jerick McKinnon is expected to be the starter and handle a full workload after impressing the first two weeks, including scoring a pair of touchdowns, in his first action since the 2017 season. Third-year pro Jeff Wilson Jr. is also expected to see his role expand.
Defense also banged up
There was concerning news Friday surrounding two potential starters on defense. Cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon, who got the nod for Richard Sherman (short-term injured reserve, calf) last week, tweaked his hamstring during practice on Thursday and is listed as questionable. He would likely be replaced by Jason Verrett if he can’t play.
Verrett, meanwhile, returned to practice this week for the first time following his own hamstring injury from training camp that kept him out of the first two games. Verrett split reps with the starters early in camp with Emmanuel Moseley and Witherspoon before getting hurt. Shanahan indicated he feels good about the former first-round draft pick despite his long list of injuries throughout his career. Verrett hasn’t started a game since Week 1 in 2017 with the Chargers.
“Very confident in Jason,” Shanahan said. “He had a real good week of practice and he had a real good camp before he hurt his hamstring. Ahkello had a tight hamstring yesterday, tweaked it a little bit. So we held him out, or he was limited today, so we’ll see how that goes over the next 24 hours.”
Linebacker Dre Greenlaw won’t play this week after coming out of the Jets victory with a thigh contusion. He returned to practice Wednesday but had a setback and was ruled out on Friday. Shanahan indicated it will be Azeez Al-Shaair in Greenlaw’s place when San Francisco has three linebackers on the field.
Al-Shaair appeared in 14 games last season and made four starts due to Kwon Alexander’s midseason pectoral injury. The position is rounded out by Mark Nzeocha and Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles, who would be making his pro debut if active on Sunday.
“It’s unfortunate but we got a lot of good players on defense,” said Shanahan. “I know Azeez has got a lot of playing time for us last year also, so he’s been out there. We got a number of other guys you guys haven’t seen yet, who can help us too.”
Shanahan updates on Dee Ford
The 49ers have decided not to place defensive end Dee Ford on injured reserve, which would open a roster spot for at least three games, as he continues to deal with a back injury. Shanahan said earlier in the week there’s no time table for his return and dove deeper Friday regarding the uncertainty of his status.
“When you have back issues, sometimes it takes some time, but that stuff will calm down and you’ll feel really good,” Shanahan said. “But if it never does, then you have to do bigger things and you always want to wait for those bigger things. So you don’t know whether it’s a day, a week or month. I’ve been around a lot of guys who they barely can walk and all of a sudden their back spasms go away and they’re good in a few days. I’ve also been around guys it takes a couple weeks and some guys they have to fix it before it changes. So we’re doing all that with Dee Ford.”
On the bright side, Shanahan said he’s not willing to rule out Ford for next week’s home game against the Philadelphia Eagles. Though he did say Ford will remain week to week for the time being.
Deebo Samuel to practice next week
The best bit of injury news the 49ers have gotten in a while could come next week with the potential return of No. 1 receiver Deebo Samuel.
Samuel was placed on injured reserve just before the season opener after dealing with a setback to his surgically repaired broken foot and was forced to miss the next three games, making next week the first time he could be added back to the active roster.
Samuel has been ramping up his rehab while the team’s been practicing at The Greenbrier resort in West Virginia this week and Shanahan has been encouraged with what he’s seen.
“I am optimistic he’ll back next week,” said Shanahan. “He had a real good week last week hitting the rehab hard with all those guys. Just to be able to watch him work out here on the side, he looks real good running routes and he’s been able to do it without pain. So I expect to get him back next week. Whether that means the game on Sunday (against the Eagles), I don’t know. That’s stuff that I don’t even think about until I see how he looks on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.”
—New defensive end Ezekiel Ansah will be wearing No. 94 when he makes his debut with the 49ers on Sunday. Ansah was initially assigned No. 98, but that’s Ronald Blair III’s number.
No. 94, of course, belongs to Solomon Thomas, but could be used because Thomas won’t play this season after tearing his ACL in last week’s win. Blair is expected to return of the physically unable to perform list in late October.
So Ansah reached out to Thomas to ask permission to wear No. 94. It’s the number he’s worn throughout his seven-year career with the Lions and Seahawks.
“Ziggy was real cool about it,” Shanahan said. “He called Solly and asked him if he could do it and Solly was honored to tell him that it was no problem and really helped him out with that.”
—The Giants will be without star running back Saquon Barkley, who was placed on season-ending injured reserve this week after tearing his ACL in their recent loss to the Chicago Bears. Additionally, starting receiver Sterling Shephard hit IR with a toe injury and won’t play for at least the next three games.
New York on Friday tabbed former 49ers safety Adrian Colbert as doubtful to play Sunday with a quadriceps injury. Cornerback Brandon Williams (groin) is questionable.
This story was originally published September 25, 2020 at 1:00 PM.
