Kwon Alexander could be the latest San Francisco 49ers player sidelined. On Monday, head coach Kyle Shanahan revealed that the linebacker suffered a "possible" high-ankle sprain on Sunday against the Miami Dolphins. That doesn't necessarily mean injured reserve just yet, though, as the injury's severity hasn't been determined.
Alexander played 66 of the 67 total snaps on defense against the Dolphins.
"We could be wrong, but right now, they told me that they believe it's a high-ankle sprain," Shanahan told reporters. "They're not sure of the severity of it. It could be a minor one, for whatever that means. If it's automatic high-ankle sprain, I'd be talking about IR and stuff right now. But they told me to hold on that because they think it possibly could be a minor one; don't know.
"They've got to do more work today on it, and we'll have an answer on that for Wednesday."
Shanahan had hoped to get cornerback Richard Sherman back this week to help the defense's injury-depleted secondary. On Monday, he didn't sound very optimistic about that happening, noting that the future Hall of Famer had a setback last week.
"Sherm, we were hoping to get him back this week," Shanahan said. "Some setbacks last week, and the healing hasn't gone the way we were hoping for. I know we're going to try a few different procedures this week, but I'm not counting on him this week. We'll see how that goes with the new stuff we're going to try."
Shanahan clarified that none of the "procedures" were surgical.
"I think he's getting some shots that he thinks can help in his leg," Shanahan said. "I'm not sure the names of the shots but no surgeries or anything. Just different types of shots to take to see if they can take the inflammation out and stuff like that."
Shanahan added that cornerback Emmanuel Moseley remains in the concussion protocol, but the coach is becoming more optimistic that he could return soon.
Defensive tackle D.J. Jones, who suffered an eye injury on Sunday, is expected to practice on Wednesday.
