The San Francisco 49ers are preparing for their Week 7 matchup with the Indianapolis Colts. This time, they’ll be without stars Ricky Pearsall and Renardo Green. The positivity in the news was somewhat outweighed as Coach Kyle Shanahan announced the roster moves, preceded by a week of practice seriously affected by injuries.
The first offensive snap of the season, Ricky Pearsall goes down with a low ankle sprain. He’s been further hampered by a right knee injury that he’s been dealing with. In this circumstance, Shanahan made it clear that Pearsall would not be playing in the game when he said, “Ricky will be staying home.” Pearsall suffered his injury due to a hip-drop tackle. In return, the offending player was issued a significant fine, $23,186.
Renardo Green’s been dealing with a persistent neck injury. He was a limited participant in each of the three practices this week. On Friday, he donned a blue no-contact jersey, but removed it that very day on Saturday. Shanahan revealed that Green’s condition did not improve, saying, “His neck has been bothering him since the [Titans] game and it just didn’t get any better.”
Those are two huge losses for the 49ers, especially with this season’s schedule in mind. They’ll need to sweat plenty to maintain their run rate through this year. The timing of the team’s roster changes couldn’t come at a more critical time. Kendrick Bourne is only one yard away from activating a $500,000 bonus for hitting 500 receiving yards.
Pearsall and Green are both battling injury issues. At the same time, linebacker Eric Kendricks has been dealing with a calf injury, but he’s practiced all week and is expecting to play on Saturday against the Colts.
As an NFL reporter with ESPN, Nick Wagoner has been intimately acquainted with the 49ers’ follies since 2016. He spent 12 years covering the St. Louis Rams. During that time, he was able to give in-depth treatment to breaking stories, such as Michael Sam making history in becoming the first openly gay player drafted by the NFL. Wagoner also led ESPN’s coverage of the 49ers during their Super Bowl runs in 2019 and 2023 and reported on Colin Kaepernick’s impactful protest.
The 49ers’ preparations continue for the Colts on Sunday. Now they need to overcome the injury bug and lean on their depth and resolve to come away with a win.
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