SANTA CLARA, Calif. — San Francisco 49ers running back Jerick McKinnon suffered what is feared to be a serious knee injury on the final play of a team workout Saturday.
Niners coach Kyle Shanahan said McKinnon made a cut on air and immediately went down awkwardly. McKinnon is scheduled to have an MRI later Saturday.
“We’re concerned about it, but we don’t have an MRI done so we don’t know for sure,” Shanahan said. “We’re nervous about it, that’s for sure.”
Because McKinnon’s injury was non-contact and because of how it looked, Shanahan acknowledged there was concern it was ACL-related.
“Yeah, I mean anytime I watch someone feel their knee, there’s always that concern,” Shanahan said. “But I have felt that way before and it hasn’t been (an ACL), so I’m not trying to (make this) the darkest moment in the world right now. We hope that we’re wrong.”
McKinnon missed most of the preseason with a calf strain suffered in a practice Aug. 12. He had slowly been working his way back but was expected to be ready for the Sept. 9 opener against the Minnesota Vikings before Saturday’s injury. In fact, Shanahan said Saturday was McKinnon’s first time back working in live team drills.
McKinnon’s injury comes just before a season opener in which he was expected to be the Niners’ starting running back, a role he had been unable to grasp in his previous four seasons with Minnesota.
The Niners signed McKinnon to a four-year, $30 million in the offseason and had high hopes for making him one of the focal points of their offense. The injury also came just before teams had to trim their roster to the league-mandated 53-players.
San Francisco released running backs Joe Williams, Jeremy McNichols and Jeff Wilson Jr. as part of those roster moves.
Should the Niners’ fears of a serious injury turn out to be true, more roster shuffling could be in the offing at running back.
“The thing that was unusual was the timing of it, just a couple of hours before the final cuts and we are extremely concerned but we don’t know for sure until we get an MRI,” Shanahan said. “So he’s got to be a part of our 53 and if we get a bad MRI tomorrow, then obviously he’ll have to go on IR so that’s why everything is very fluid because that affects our 53 and our practice squad and everything but you have to have 53 by 1 o’clock (PT).”
For now, the Niners have Matt Breida, Alfred Morris and Raheem Mostert on the roster at running back. Breida, who suffered a shoulder injury in the preseason opener that cost him the next three games, also had his first day back working in team drills Saturday. Shanahan said Breida is “good to go” and will be fully involved in the Niners’ practices next week.
Niners general manager John Lynch expressed optimism in the Niners’ roster even if it loses McKinnon.
“Like Kyle mentioned, we’re concerned but we’re also confident,” Lynch said. “We’ve got a lot of good football players here. We’re proud of our 53-man roster and next week we’re going to be really excited looking to take on the Vikings.”