It's starting to look like quarterback Nick Mullens will get his tenth career start on Sunday night when the San Francisco 49ers host the Philadelphia Eagles at Levi's Stadium. Jimmy Garoppolo did not practice on Wednesday afternoon. According to Matt Barrows of The Athletic, the 49ers' starter wasn't out on the field for Thursday's practice either.
No Jimmy Garoppolo at the start of practice today. We'll have to wait for the full injury report this afternoon, but it's **looking** like another Nick Mullens start Sunday. #49ers #Eagles
— Matt Barrows (@mattbarrows) October 1, 2020
Garoppolo missed this past Sunday's game against the New York Giants after suffering an ankle injury the week before against the New York Jets.
The 49ers have just one more practice — a Friday afternoon session — remaining before Sunday's game. Should Garoppolo miss that one too, it seems unlikely the team will play him over the weekend.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan said on Wednesday that Garoppolo would need to practice and show that he can move around well enough to protect himself.
"Anytime you're dealing with an ankle, you might feel all right when you're standing there, but can you move around and get into the awkward positions without hurting yourself?" said Shanahan. "That's really what we'd have to see. It would be tough for us to see that and truly judge that if he didn't get into practice.
"So, hopefully, can get out there for at least one live period, and we have those all the way up until Friday. We've just got to see that he's healthy, but that won't be able to happen if we can't get him in practice."
The 49ers will release their official practice participation and injury report later today.
Other early practice notes from Barrows:
- Cornerbacks K'Waun Williams (hip) and Ahkello Witherspoon (hamstring) were on hand for practice.
- Running back Jerick McKinnon (ribs) was on hand for practice.
- There were no signs of running back Raheem Mostert (knee) or cornerback Emmanuel Moseley (concussion).
