SANTA CLARA — Has the 49ers’ never-ending injury saga taken a turn for the better?
Quarterback Brock Purdy, who came out of a 27-24 loss to the Los Angeles Rams with a sore back, headed to practice Wednesday without limitations as the 49ers (1-2) began preparations to face the New England Patriots (1-2) at Levi’s Stadium in Week 4.
Tight end George Kittle has also made progress with a hamstring strain that kept him out of the Rams loss as he was on the field in a limited basis.
Those who weren’t scheduled to practice were wide receiver Deebo Samuel (calf) and defensive tackle Javon Hargrave (triceps). Samuel is not expected to face the Patriots and Hargrave is likely out or the season and soon will be headed to injured reserve.
The 49ers continue to be without running back Christian McCaffrey (calf) and rookie wide receiver Ricky Pearsall Jr. (chest), both of whom are on injured reserve and not yet eligible to return.
Coach Kyle Shanahan wasn’t pointing to injuries as the reason for the loss to the Rams.
“You’ve got to be able to overcome those,” Shanahan said. “We had every chance to win on Sunday despite some of our injuries. I felt like we should have been 2-1, but we found a way to lose, and that’s on us and when you lose games you think you should have won it makes it that much harder — injuries or no injuries.
THE CAP STORY
Hargrave became the latest high-salaried player to go down. His loss is significant because unlike the others, he’s not expected to return this season.
Including Kittle, who was limited Wednesday, the 49ers have six players who are either sidelined, on injured reserve, on the physically unable to perform list or the non-football injury list that account for $52,267,477 of cap dollars. Their replacements in the lineup total $10,023,221 — a difference of $42,244,256.
The salary cap this season is set at $255.4 million, although the 49ers have $56.8 million in cap space according to overthecap.com due to the restructures of several contracts.
The issue isn’t cap space as much as it is the 49ers being without the players they value the most.
Here’s how it breaks down
Samuel $12,226,543/Jennings $2,774,941
Kittle $12,220,475/Eric Saubert $985,500
McCaffrey $6,682,588/Jordan Mason $988,334
Javon Hargrave $9,270,882/Jordan Elliott $2,140,000
Ricky Pearsall Jr. $2,279,709/Ronnie Bell $934,446
Dre Greenlaw $9,602,970/De’Vondre Campbell $2,200,000
Injured: $52,267,477
Replacements: $10,023,221
More to come on this breaking story . . .
