During a conference call with reporters on Monday, San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan provided updates on the injuries sustained during Sunday's loss to the Cleveland Browns.
Running back Christian McCaffrey suffered an oblique/rib injury in the third quarter. Although he briefly returned to the game, he was again sidelined after just one play.
Shanahan didn't have an update on McCaffrey, who was undergoing his MRI as the coach spoke with reporters. The 49ers are awaiting the results.
The coach was asked if McCaffrey could play with some added protection under his jersey, as the 49ers did with quarterback Brock Purdy's rib injury last season.
"It's obviously a tougher position just because you get hit a lot more, but we just got to see how it reacts," Shanahan responded. "We got to see exactly what's wrong with it, too, because we haven't got that back yet. So we say oblique/rib. Hopefully, it's not both, but we got to wait to see for sure."
The good news is that the rest of the injured players are day-to-day, meaning there is nothing significant there.
Deebo Samuel sustained a shoulder injury late in the first quarter. While X-rays showed no immediate concerns, the receiver underwent an MRI to assess the extent of the injury. The coach didn't provide additional details about the injury, simply noting that the receiver is day-to-day.
"We got to see how it recovers this week, and it's just how his body is going to handle it," Shanahan said. "You never know how those react. So we'll wait and see."
Late in the first quarter, tackle Trent Williams suffered an ankle injury. Despite the discomfort, he managed to return to the game and played through the pain.
"It didn't feel good at all," Williams said after the 19-17 loss. "It's football, and I just tried to fight through it for my teammates."
Shanahan added that Williams' injury is not a high-ankle sprain. The coach was asked about the difficult decision of allowing a player to play through an injury.
"That's always the toughest thing because you never want to do something to put someone at a huge jeopardy to make it worse," Shanahan responded. "And that's why you got to go with the player. Hopefully, you have an idea. Well, first of all, you've got to ask the trainers. But then you go to the player, and you've got to have a history with the player. You've got to kind of know how he is and stuff like that.
"And I truly believe that if Trent couldn't go, Trent's not going to go. He's going to do everything he can to be out there, but Trent's a very intelligent guy who is also very competitive and understands what those decisions are. And he said he could come back. I wasn't expecting him [to] because of how bad the injury looked.
"The trainers thought that it wasn't as serious as it looked. Trent was adamant to get back out there, and then we keep our eyes on him all game, which [offensive line/run game coordinator] Chris Foerster does a real good job of. So does [James Cregg] and Joe [Graves], his assistants.
"And Trent, we thought, battled during the game, didn't show any limps, and it was a pretty courageous effort by him coming out in those circumstances, especially the player he was going against (Myles Garrett)."
Safety George Odum is dealing with a quad contusion.
Dre Greenlaw did not play against the Browns due to a hamstring injury. Shanahan noted that the 49ers expect to get their star linebacker back for practice this week, which begins on Thursday due to San Francisco's next game being on Monday night.
