Kyle Shanahan will have his homecoming on Sunday, when the 49ers travel to Denver under the Shanahan-Lynch regime for the first time in the regular season.
There are a couple key names with uncertain statuses for Sunday night’s marquis matchup, with George Kittle chief among them. Shanahan joined Murph & Mac on Friday morning and discussed some of those situations.
After practicing the first two days this week, though, Shanahan expressed optimism about Kittle’s status.
“I’d be surprised if he doesn’t play,” Shanahan said. “I mean we can’t say for sure yet, but he’s good in these two days of practice. Should be a good day and if you don’t have any setbacks, he should be playing.”
Arik Armstead’s status sounds a bit less certain.
He came out of Sunday’s game with a foot injury that Shanahan didn’t express much initial concern about on Wednesday.
But he’s missed two days of practice, and a third-straight absence would provide cause for worry. Shanahan didn’t have much on him.
“No news. Hopefully he’ll get in a little bit today,” Shanahan said. “Hasn’t been able to go this week yet, so I’m not sure, but still early today on Friday. So I’m hoping when he gets in here he’s good enough to get in a little today in practice, but it’s usually half speed today anyway, especially for the D-linemen. The only full-speed period we do is 7-on-7 on a Friday. But if he’s out there, I know that’s a better sign than him not being able to go.”
There was no update on Daniel Brunskill, but he has yet to practice since suffering a hamstring injury and is unlikely to play.
The only other player mentioned was Ty Davis-Price, who suffered a high ankle sprain against Seattle and, along with tight end Tyler Kroft (knee sprain), was expected to miss multiple weeks.
Shanahan mentioned on Friday that high ankle sprains usually take at least a month to recover from, which sounds a bit longer than the “few weeks” timeline. It highlights the severity of the injury and the fact that Davis-Price could potentially find himself on injured reserve (where players have to spend at least four weeks before returning).
Listen to the full interview below. You can listen to every KNBR interview on our podcast page at knbr.com/podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Catch Murph & Mac weekdays from 6 a.m. – 10 a.m. on KNBR 104.5 / 680 and streaming live on KNBR.com.