Head coach Kyle Shanahan revealed on KNBR Friday morning that J.J. Nelson's is the latest injury to the San Francisco 49ers wide receiver group. The unit has been hit hard by injuries, forcing the Niners to continue bringing in more help to spread out the reps and keep others healthy.
Deebo Samuel is still recovering from the Jones fracture he suffered in June. Aiyuk (hamstring) will miss the remainder of training camp but could be back for Week 1. Richie James Jr. (hand) will miss some time, while Jalen Hurd's (ACL) season is done.
San Francisco recently signed two receivers, Kevin White and River Cracraft, to one-year deals.
"We've done a good job bringing in some guys who can play, so it's helped us with all the guys who are out right now," Shanahan said on the Murph & Mac show. "But any time you go into a training camp -- it started with losing Deebo and Richie James, two guys who did a lot for us last year, who we expected to make the team this year.
"Then you lose Jalen Hurd, who we had very big plans for this year. So that's three of the guys who had a very good chance of making our team. J.J. Nelson has come in and done a real good job. He's been banged up the last two days. We just got some injury stuff on him yesterday, so he's probably going to be out here for the next month, so you lose another.
"... Tavon (Austin), all those guys have been so tight with all the extra reps they've had to take. So you've got all these guys who are doing all these reps for the number of guys that are missing, so you've got to keep bringing in guys, so those guys don't fully get hurt. We've had to take it easy on a couple of those guys, like Tavon and stuff, because they've had to pick up the bulk of the reps with all those guys out."
While it may seem like never-ending injury reports have bombarded your news feed, Shanahan believes there is a silver lining. The situation could have been a lot worse.
"It just goes all the way down, and it's a chain reaction," Shanahan continued. "Once you've got to take care of one guy, the next guy gets hurt. That's why you guys see so many people coming in. But the good news about our receiver situation is, minus Jalen — that was a big blow. I mean, we had a lot of plans for Jalen, and it was a big blow last year. But besides him, all the guys I'm talking about are coming back.
"Aiyuk, I'd expect to have him for Week 1. We'll see. But I am expecting him. Deebo, we're hoping for. We'll see how that goes. Trent Taylor's been healthy. (Kendrick) Bourne has been healthy.
"All these guys that we have brought in are definitely NFL players who have a chance to make our team. We've just got to see how the injuries play out. I feel that we have a good group that is in our building that will help us throughout this year."
