49ers HC Kyle Shanahan on Nick Bosa’s Latest Injury

For the third season in a row and the umpteenth time since Kyle Shanahan took over as their head coach, the San Francisco 49ers are dealing with a growing rash of injuries. They came into Week 2 without wide receivers De’Zhaun Stribling, Christian Kirk and Ricky Pearsall, tight end Jake Tonges and defensive linemen Mykel Williams, Sam Okuayinonu and Alfred Collins.

When they defeated the Miami Dolphins 35-13 last Sunday, they lost defensive tackle James Thompson Jr. and wideout Demarcus Robinson to high ankle sprains. Then on Wednesday, defensive tackle CJ West went on the shelf due to a bone chip in his knee, and on Thursday, star defensive end Nick Bosa missed practice with a calf ailment.

Bosa will now miss a few weeks due to that calf ailment. The 49ers’ defensive line is now seriously thin as they prepare to host the Arizona Cardinals this Sunday, and head coach Kyle Shanahan will have to figure something out to get his team to start 3-0.

Shanahan gives some details on Bosa’s injury

No matter how much time Bosa will miss, Nick Wagoner of ESPN wrote on Friday that the Niners “are leaning toward” not putting the edge rusher on injured reserve. The reason? They’re running out of room.

“It’s the discussion,” Shanahan said. “[Bosa’s] right there at that point along with a couple other guys. They’re all in the same boat. Because of the number we have on it, we won’t be able to do all of them. We’ve got to decide and we’re just trying to guess which ones will go longer, which ones have the chances of being sooner. It’s just a guess. They’re all really close to the same boat, so we got to decide that by tomorrow at 1.”

There is no limit to the number of players an NFL team can place on injured reserve. However, a team can only bring back eight players from injured reserve during the regular season. As of now, San Francisco has 15 players on injured reserve.

The news on Thursday that Bosa sat out practice due to a bad calf was a surprise and seemingly came out of nowhere. Per Wagoner, Shanahan said Bosa sustained the injury while “warming up and doing high knees for the team’s walkthrough Thursday morning.”

The Niners’ schedule will start to become more challenging after this weekend. They will host the Denver Broncos in Week 4 before visiting the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks in Week 5. San Francisco has a road game against the Dallas Cowboys on Nov. 15 and a home game against the Seahawks on Nov. 29.