San Francisco 49ers defensive end Dee Ford has been dealing with a back issue since before Week 2. He has not played a snap since the season-opening loss against the Arizona Cardinals, and may not play for several upcoming weeks.

This weekend's game against the Philadelphia Eagles, at least, is undoubtedly out for Ford. Head coach Kyle Shanahan made that clear on Monday.

"He's not going to play this week," Shanahan told reporters. "We should decide in the next few days whether to put him on short-term IR or not. But we haven't decided yet. We'll see how it goes here in the next few days."

Shanahan noted that not much has changed with Ford's status.


General manager John Lynch discussed the veteran pass rusher last week during a conversation on KNBR.

"What we understand, in talking to the doctors -- and it's not as if we don't have a plan," Lynch said. "It's just there's a little bit of unknown to it. That thing has to quiet down, and when it does, we can build him back up and get him ready to play.

"I've talked to Dee. Dee's eager to do that. We've just got to kind of get through this. It's a little flared up right now, and it's got to quiet down before we start getting him ready to come back to play. But Dee's a big part of this team, and we're eagerly awaiting his return."

For now, it sounds very likely that Ford could miss some time. He may join tight end Jordan Reed (MCL sprain) and linebacker Mark Nzeocha (quad), both of whom Shanahan said are headed to short-term injured reserve.

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