"A little worse than the other guys, so he's going to be [out] some time," head coach Kyle Shanahan said on August 15, adding that the safety missing regular-season time was a possibility.
Before Thursday night's preseason finale against the Houston Texans, 49ers general manager John Lynch said that Ward was likely headed for the short-term injured reserve list. That means he would need to remain on the active roster beyond Tuesday's roster cut-down deadline to 53 players. If the 49ers placed Ward on injured reserve before then, it would be season-ending.
After the August 30 deadline, the 49ers could activate Ward from injured reserve after the first four games of the season. That would make him eligible to return for Week 5 against the Carolina Panthers, at the earliest.
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